{"id":81559,"date":"2025-12-19T10:52:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=81559"},"modified":"2026-04-15T13:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T17:23:13","slug":"extraordinary-women-we-lost-2025-who-made-the-world-better-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/extraordinary-women-we-lost-2025-who-made-the-world-better-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Extraordinary Women We Lost in 2025 Who Made the World a Better Place"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jane Goodall is one of several prominent women we lost this year. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This year, we saw the passing of legends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, brilliant women who were pioneers in the worlds of music, sports, science and (much) more died – some after full, rich lifetimes, and some far too soon. But they all left behind legacies of enlightenment, progress and true feeling, as well as words of wisdom to live by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, we reflect on the work of these individuals, and the insights they gave to guide us forward.<\/p>\n\n\n

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1<\/div>\n \n

Cecile Richards. (Credit: Lorie Shaull, Flickr.com)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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\u201cDon't sit around and wait for the perfect opportunity to come along\u2014find something and make it an opportunity.\u201d -Cecile Richards, Former Head of Planned Parenthood<\/h2>\n

Before she stepped down in 2018, the former president of Planned Parenthood<\/a> was one of the most visible advocates for abortion rights, especially at a time when those rights have been under siege by Republican administrations. Richards received the Presidential Medal of Freedom the year before she died at 67 after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. She was a political organizer from an early age and was involved with various statewide campaigns alongside her mother, former Gov. Ann Richards of Texas.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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2<\/div>\n \n

Roberta Flack. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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"Always walk in the light. And if you feel like you\u2019re not walking in it, go find it." -Roberta Flack, Musician<\/h2>\n

Flack, who expertly blended<\/a> classical music, jazz, gospel, folk and blues with deep feeling, was still giving concerts into her 80s, until an A.L.S. diagnosis forced her to stop singing in 2022. The shape-shifting musician appeared 16 times at Carnegie Hall over the course of her long, fruitful career, which skyrocketed in 1974 when she became the first solo female artist to land No. 1 pop hits in three consecutive years with \u201cFeel Like Makin\u2019 Love.\u201d She died at 88.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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3<\/div>\n \n

Anne Burrell. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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"There are so many things that you think will look cool, but then you look like an idiot!" -Anne Burrell, Chef<\/h2>\n

The wildly popular chef and Foot Network star rose to fame as the sous chef for\u00a0Mario Batali\u00a0on \u201cIron Chef America,\u201d which helped her spawn her own show, “Secrets of a Restaurant Chef.” Her platinum-blonde hair and exuberant, no-nonsense demeanor quickly made her one of the most recognizable personalities on the air. Her death at 55 was ruled<\/a> a suicide.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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4<\/div>\n \n

Andrea Gibson. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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\u201cA doctor once told me I feel too much. I said, so does God. That\u2019s why you can see the Grand Canyon from the moon.\u201d -Andrea Gibson, Poet<\/h2>\n

Colorado’s poet laureate was not afraid to bare their deepest emotions and fears in their poetry, which found scores of fans who responded to the personal nature and political activism of Gibson’s work. Before Gibson died at age 49<\/a>, they\u00a0appeared in the documentary \u201cCome See Me in the Good Light,\u201d which focused on their long struggle with terminal ovarian cancer and which won the Festival Favorite Award at the Sundance Film Festival in January.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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5<\/div>\n \n

Jane Goodall. (Credit: Flickr)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m not going to give in. I\u2019ll die fighting, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d -Jane Goodall, Anthropologist<\/h2>\n

For over five decades, the 91-year-old anthropologist, scientist and conservationist helped shape<\/a> humanity’s understanding of animals \u2014 notably the wild chimpanzees in East Africa, whose behavior she studied passionately. One of her most visible legacies is the Jane Goodall Institute<\/a>, which was founded in 1977 and continues to not just protect chimps but champion human rights, animal welfare and environmental conservation.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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6<\/div>\n \n

Diane Keaton. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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\u201cI didn\u2019t want to give up my independence.\u201d -Diane Keaton, Actress <\/h2>\n

The Oscar-winning actress whose film career spanned nearly six decades<\/a> will always be known as a quirky, upbeat presence \u2014 both on-screen and in her personal life. Her infamous outfits in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” set off a fashion frenzy when the movie came out in 1977, and she marched to the beat of her own drum off-screen as well \u2014 she never married, and adopted her two children when she was in her fifties.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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7<\/div>\n \n

Miss Major. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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"I don't need their permission to exist; I exist in spite of them." -Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Trans Rights Activist<\/h2>\n

Up to her death at age 78, the legendary trans rights activist better known as Miss Major traveled across the country in motorized scooters and wheelchairs to speak out<\/a> against the wave of anti-trans legislation. She was a veteran of the Stonewall riots of 1969 and was known for helping and housing Black trans women. The Chicago-born activist’s legacy will live on in her nonprofit, The House of gg or the Griffin-Gracy Educational and Historical Center.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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8<\/div>\n \n

Diane Ladd. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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"I\u2019m not an actor. I\u2019m a teacher." -Diane Ladd, Actress<\/h2>\n

The actress who played sassy waitress Flo in Martin Scorsese\u2019s film \u201cAlice Doesn\u2019t Live Here Anymore\u201d in 1974 will be remembered<\/a> for her iconic roles in a career that spanned six decades. The three-time Oscar-nominated performer, born in Mississippi, moved to New York City in the 1950s and appeared in various TV and stage roles, according to the New York Times<\/a>. She told her daughter, actress Laura Dern, that she didn’t want her to go into acting \u2014 then played Dern’s on-screen mother at least five times.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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9<\/div>\n \n

Alice Wong. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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\u201cThere is so much that able-bodied people could learn from the wisdom that often comes with disability.\u201d -Alice Wong, Disability Rights Activist<\/h2>\n

Disability rights activist<\/a> Wong was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive neuromuscular disease that left her unable to walk from age 8 onward. She is best known for starting the Disability Visibility Project<\/a>, which spotlights those who live doubly on the margins of society: disabled women of color, LGBTQ+ people and immigrants. Doctors told her parents, who’d immigrated from Hong Kong to the United States, that she wouldn’t live past 18, according to The 19th News<\/a>. Wong died at 51.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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10<\/div>\n \n

Viola Ford Fletcher. (Credit: Good Morning America, YouTube)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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\u201cDon\u2019t let them bury my story.\u201d -Viola Ford Fletcher, Author and Tulsa Massacre Survivor<\/h2>\n

The extraordinary <\/a>Fletcher was the oldest survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre before she died at age 111. As a young girl, she witnessed her Oklahoma neighborhood being torched and trashed by a white mob. The destruction led to<\/a> as many as 300 deaths and mass homelessness. Her book, \u201cDon\u2019t Let Them Bury My Story<\/a>,\u201d is a detailed, first-person account of the deadly attack, which occurred in a thriving enclave of Tulsa known as \u201cBlack Wall Street.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

Candice Helfand-Rogers contributed to this article.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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