"Celia was a fantastically authentic woman with a fierce intelligence, a big heart and a great storyteller.
"She could lower her head and look at you with eyes that could melt icebergs and just as quickly roll her head back laughing. Funny and serious, she could laugh at herself."
Labour MP Jacinda Ardern tweeted: "Devastated that Celia Lashlie has passed away. She fought hard for the most vulnerable at huge cost to herself."
United Future leader Peter Dunne wrote: "I pay my respects to Celia Lashlie - a truly inspirational New Zealander. May she rest in peace."
A Givealittle page has been set up to honour the work of Ms Lashlie.
"A special group of Celia's family and friends will use the funds to continue Celia's work, in accordance with her wishes," the Givealittle page said.
"The idea is that we can progress some of the work Celia intended to do ... " The page, which was created yesterday, had more than $2300 in donations last night.
Ms Lashlie was admitted to hospital after Christmas when a scan revealed pancreatic cancer. Her family said her condition had deteriorated in the last six weeks.
In her final blog post on her website, Ms Lashlie said she had become unwell last year.
"Late last year I slowly became unwell. The stress of the lifestyle I was living, the demands I made of myself, the demands other people made of me and expected to meet became too great and as 2014 closed I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that had spread to my liver," she wrote on her website.
"No treatment, no cure, only palliative care. I'd waited too long to look after myself and my body broke.
"It's time to leave the work to others now."
Ms Lashlie is best known for her work with the Good Man project that focused on research from discussions with pupils in 25 boys' schools. It formed the basis of her book, He'll Be OK - Growing Gorgeous Boys into Good Men. She has also written two other books - The Journey to Prison: Who Goes and Why, and The Power of Mothers: Releasing Our Children.
Her advice to mothers of boys became well known, and her work on raising teenage boys as well as on social justice issues saw her in demand as a speaker in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and the United States.
Ms Lashlie was also the former manager of Christchurch's Women's Prison, and worked for 15 years within the Prison Service from 1985.
She was the first woman to work as a prison officer in a male prison in New Zealand.
Ms Lashlie was the mother of two adult children and nana to five grandchildren.
- Staff reporter
Celia Lashlie
• Acclaimed for her work on helping adolescent boys and empowering struggling families.
• Became New Zealand's first female prison officer in a men's prison, in 1985.
• Became manager of Christchurch Women's Prison.
• Was sacked - and then reinstated - as acting head of Specialist Education Services in 2001, amid controversy over the first of three books which led to hundreds of speaking engagements.
