Carrie Zenti, a former education coordinator at Masterworks, has died at the age of 46 after a prolonged battle with breast cancer.

Ms Zenti left the island seven years ago to focus on her health, but Masterworks head Tom Butterfield said her hard work and dedication left a lasting impact on the organisation.

“I have missed her every day since her shadow disappeared from the museum seven years ago due to the quality and nature of her character,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“She epitomised the best of humankind. No work or task was ever too great, no challenge was too daunting and no person too irritating to take on board. She was an absolutely brilliant person.

“I spoke to her mother yesterday and told her that Carrie raised the bar and the standard on which we try to maintain for our educational programmes. She was always organised, always prepared and always in good humour, all while battling cancer and knowing that she was on the losing side of it.”

He said the Arts For All initiative could be considered a lasting legacy of her work with the gallery, in which she organised more than a dozen classes offering everything from watercolour painting to instrument making, along with the Masterworks annual Summer Camps which she helped build into a roaring success.

A statement from Masterworks said: “Carrie was rare in her warmth and love of teaching and love of her students. She was never unprepared for class and always organised. She was a Pied Piper in the Botanical Gardens and her students adored her.

“Meticulous, compassionate, caring, intelligent and both a team player and at the same time, fiercely independent — she’s irreplaceable. She battled with cancer bravely for ten years, the last five of which were at home as she was too ill to carry on teaching: a trooper to the end.

“Carrie, our hearts are burdened and we will endeavour to live up to your standards and continue the educational excellence for which you laid the groundwork.”