Virginia Held, an American philosopher and feminist theorist whose work helped shape the ethics of care, died on June 3, 2026.
She was 96. Born Virginia Potter Held on October 28, 1929, in Mendham, New Jersey, she earned her Ph.D.
in philosophy from Columbia University in 1968 after studying at Barnard College and Columbia. Held taught at Hunter College from 1965 until her retirement in 2001, rising from lecturer to full professor, and later held appointments at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she served as deputy executive officer of the philosophy program from 1980 to 1984. She was named a Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York in 1996. Her books included Feminist Morality: Transforming Culture, Society, and Politics, and she received the Philip L. Quinn Prize.