Over 2,500 Brazilians paid their respects on Friday to a prominent social worker, who died in Tuesday's devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Zilda Arns' remains were brought back for burial in Curitiba inBrazil's southern state of Parana, where she lived.

"If there is a person in Brazil who was responsible, as an individual, for the reduction in infant mortality and for the lives of our children, this person was Zilda Arns," said Sao Paulo State Governor Jose Serra.

Senator Flavio Arns, Zilda Arns' nephew, said his aunt "lived to do good, and more importantly, taught people to do good."

Arns was a founder of the Pastoral Care of the Child and the Pastoral Care of the Elder, two nationwide social organizations linked to the Catholic Church.

Arns received several awards for her work. She was nominated candidate for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize along with other 999 women, in an initiative called "1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize."

Arns was killed on her way to a conference when she was hit by debris in a street in the Haitian capital city of Port-au-Prince, according to her relatives. She was 75 years old.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would also come to Curitiba to pay tribute before Arns' burial on Saturday.

(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2009)