Tribecan Jung Lee Sanders, who founded Art Projects International just over three decades ago and was among the early creators of what has become the robust Tribeca Gallery District, died on August 6 after a year-long battle with cancer. Over the years, she presented and organized more than 150 exhibitions and featured works by more than 80 artists from around the world.

Born in South Korea, Jung Lee attended schools in Seoul, Hong Kong and the UK, graduating from Epsom School of Art and Design in England. She received a master’s degree in interior and environmental design from Pratt Institute, worked at architectural firms in New York and Seoul, and then returned here to get her PhD at NYU, focusing on the spatial development of the 20th century American art museum in relation to institutional purpose and function.

Jung Lee opened her gallery first in Soho in 1993; at the time, she was one of the few gallerists in the city focusing on contemporary artists from Asia. She moved the gallery to Tribeca — at the corner of Greenwich and Vestry — in 1998. Over the decades, she also developed exhibitions for institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, San Jose Museum of Art, Queens Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Vilcek Foundation, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Last year the gallery celebrated its 30th anniversary with a selection of works by an intergenerational group of international artists spanning more those three decades. The current show, Summer Selections, is by appointment; in October the gallery will feature large-scale works by the artist Il Lee in advance of a museum show in 2025.

Jung Lee served on the board of the Vilcek Foundation, which raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences, and was a member of the board on the Korean American Community Foundation, which focuses on philanthropic efforts and provides support to under-resourced Korean American individuals and families.

She is survived by her husband and their daughter, a brother and two sisters. A memorial service will be held in future.