Gloria Steinem, the journalist and activist whose name became synonymous with the modern women's movement, died Wednesday at her home in New York City. She was 92.

Steinem "passed away peacefully ... surrounded by some of the many who loved her," according to an announcement posted to her official Instagram account, as reported by NBC News. No cause of death was disclosed.

From undercover Bunny to Ms. magazine

Steinem's rise to national prominence began in 1963, when she spent eleven days undercover as a waitress at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Club in Manhattan for an exposé, "A Bunny's Tale," revealing grueling hours and poverty wages behind the glamorous image. The story made her a sought-after journalist years before she became a face of feminism.

In 1968 she became a founding editor and columnist at New York magazine, and in 1971 she co-founded Ms. magazine — the first mainstream American publication run largely by women — while also co-founding the National Women's Political Caucus. Over the following five decades she campaigned for reproductive rights, equal pay and protections against domestic violence, work that earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. She addressed the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach in July 1972, one of countless national stages where she pressed the case for equality, according to an obituary published by the Salt Lake Tribune.

Tributes arrived within hours from across politics and culture. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CBS News she was "heartsick," writing on Facebook that Steinem "pushed open doors not just for herself, but for literally millions of women behind her." Sens. Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders, actors Meghan Markle and Lena Dunham, and New York City's current and former mayors, Zohran Mamdani and Michael Bloomberg, also paid tribute, according to Rolling Stone and NPR's roundup of tributes.

"She pushed open doors not just for herself, but for literally millions of women behind her." — Hillary Clinton

Steinem often spoke candidly about mortality in her later years. "Even if I live to 100, which I have every intention of doing, it's not that long left," she once said, reflecting on a life spent almost entirely in public service to the causes she championed.

Representatives for Gloria's Foundation, the nonprofit she founded, have asked supporters wishing to honor her to light candles and consider donations in her name; no funeral or public memorial date has been announced. Her death lands as reproductive access and workplace equity remain flashpoints in national politics ahead of this year's midterm elections, ensuring her decades of work will keep being cited on Capitol Hill and beyond in the weeks to come.