Gloria Steinem was one of the most recognizable names in second-wave feminism, but she didn’t rest on her laurels.
On Wednesday, Steinem died at her home in New York City at the age of 92, “surrounded by some of the many who loved her,” according to a post shared on her Instagram page.
Interviews in the final years of her life painted a picture of someone as motivated as ever by work and social change.
In 2018, she told The Cut: “Most people must work to live, but some of us live to work.” It’s a common theme among long-living legends who have recently passed, including Dolly Parton and David Hockney. Longevity experts say having a firm purpose in life is linked to a long life.
Speaking to The Cut at the age of 84, Steinem said she thought of her life as a stove topped with 12 pots.
“One pot is boiling over, one needs salt, one is a new recipe. I’m constantly going from pot to pot. There are writing projects, groups that I care about and I’m on the board of, there’s a lot of traveling — I spend a third to half of my life on the road — there are political emergencies and campaigns, many different pots. At any given moment, there are 12 projects in my life,” she said.
At the time, she was an advisor to Vice Media, executive-producing the film adaptation of her memoir, 2020’s “My Life on the Road,” and remained involved in social activism.
Six years later, in 2024, Vogue interviewed Steinem to mark her 90th birthday and asked what she hoped to be celebrating at her 100th.
“Certainly much less emphasis on race, ethnicity, and gender,” she said. “Also, less emphasis on groupism and more on shared, unique human individuality. And it goes without saying that wars, killing, and crime in the street are tragedies.”
She told Bobbi Brown on the “I Am Me” podcast in 2025 that she was excited to get older.
“I don’t care about getting old, except I love it here, and I don’t want to leave,” Steinem said.
