After 20 years as executive director of SF Camerawork, Marnie Gillett died Dec. 3, 2004, following a lengthy battle with breast cancer. During her tenure, Gillett established Camerawork as a launching pad for emerging artists. She also was pivotal in helping raise San Francisco’s profile as an art community leading the exploration of the photographic medium.

Before assuming the leadership of Camerawork, Gillett was curator of exhibitions at the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, assistant director of the Light Gallery in New York and a photography instructor at Columbia College in Chicago.

Gillett was born in New Jersey and grew up in White Plains, N.Y. She graduated from the University of New Mexico, and earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson.

In addition to her partner, Clare Wren, she is survived by her mother, Jean Gillett Brookfield, and three brothers, Ezra Gillett III, Jonathan Gillett and Charles Gillett.