BATON ROUGE - Sister Lillian Lynch, known for founding the Baton Rouge Regional Eye Bank, died Thursday. She was 88.

On Monday, the Baton Rouge community remembered Lynch, who came to Baton Rouge from Cork, Ireland, in 1961. She then started the eye bank, a nonprofit organization supplying donor ocular tissue to restore vision for thousands of people, in 1976.

"That is quite a legacy for a very special woman," Ginger Miller, the former executive director of the eye bank, said.

Lynch, a Catholic nun, was an advocate and wanted to provide crucial resources to those in need.

"She was just kind, loving, sweet, a mentor for me and so many, she mentored a lot of people not just me, she touched a lot of lives, she had a very giving spirit and she was a beautiful woman," Miller said. "From mission trips out of the country to all of the thousands of people locally and around the country. She was a huge part of so many good things, and she was a visionary. She had St Francis as her vision."

The eye bank has grown beyond serving local patients in its 50-year history, helping people across the world with ocular needs. Miller said this is thanks to Sister Lynch.

Lynch's funeral also happened Monday.