Gloria Steinem dies at 92, her foundation confirmed on 2 September 2026, announcing that the writer, editor and activist passed away peacefully at her home in New York City. She was surrounded, the statement said, by ‘some of the many who loved her.’
The foundation’s tribute described a woman who never stopped. ‘Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end,’ it read. Her forthcoming book, An Unexpected Life, was among the projects she was still engaged with at the time of her death, along with a commitment to turning her home into a centre for social justice movements.
From Toledo to the Front Line of the Women’s Movement
Gloria Marie Steinem was born on 25 March 1934 in Toledo, Ohio. Her early years were itinerant: she travelled the country with her parents in a house trailer, living parts of the year in Michigan, California and Florida, and did not attend school regularly until she was 11. After her parents divorced, she moved back to Toledo with her mother, becoming her caretaker through much of her teenage years.
She eventually moved to Washington D.C. to live with her older sister, then went on to study government at Smith College, graduating in 1956. A fellowship took her to India, where she joined protests against the government. Back in the United States, she settled in New York City and began writing.
Her first major piece was an undercover exposé on the Playboy Club. From there, her work turned sharply political. She helped launch New York magazine in the late 1960s with a column called ‘The City Politic.’ She faced harassment early in her career: she recalled in a 2014 video for MAKERS that one editor gave her the choice between accompanying him to a hotel or mailing his letters. ‘Needless to say, I filed the letters,’ she said, ‘but I just assumed you had to put up with this.’
Covering an abortion hearing changed her direction entirely. Having had an illegal abortion herself after graduating from college, she listened to other women testify about what they had endured and came to understand, as she told MAKERS, that ‘my experience was not just mine, but an almost universal female experience.’
Gloria Steinem Dies at 92, Leaving Ms. Magazine and a Broader Legacy
Steinem turned that understanding into action. In the summer of 1971, she co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus alongside Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm. That same year she launched Ms., the first feminist-specific magazine. Its first issue sold out in eight days.
Ms. tackled abortion rights, the sexism of the English language and how women could resist social norms. Early story ideas, recovered from a confidential memo by New York magazine in 2011, included ‘The politics of sex. Don’t believe him when he says politics begin in Washington. Politics begin at home.’ According to the Feminist Majority Foundation, the magazine now reaches over 4.5 million readers a year in print and online.
Beyond Ms., Ms. Magazine reports that Steinem helped establish the Women’s Action Alliance, the Ms. Foundation for Women, Voters for Choice and the Women’s Media Center. Each institution built a piece of the infrastructure that sustained the American women’s movement over decades.
Her work expanded across media too. In 1993, she created a documentary for HBO called ‘Multiple Personalities: The Search for Deadly Memories,’ which explored how people survive abuse. It won an Emmy. In 2013, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the United States. ‘Because of her work across America and the world, more women are afforded the respect and opportunities they deserve,’ he said.
She became an adviser to TIME’S UP in 2017. ‘I feel as if now, for the first time, women are being believed. That’s the difference,’ she said of the moment. She was married once, to entrepreneur David Bale, from 2000 to 2003.
Her foundation has asked that those wishing to honour her memory make a donation to Gloria’s Foundation. Her forthcoming book, An Unexpected Life, will be published posthumously.