On the first anniversary of her death, November 14, 2017, Ifill's alma mater Simmons College announced that they would be launching a school in 2018, named in her honor as the "Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts and Humanities". On January 30, 2020, Ifill was honored on a U.S. postage stamp. On June 17, 2021, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation renamed Railroad Park in Queens for her. Personal life Ifill attended Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church from 1989 until her death. She was close to her large extended family, socialized with Washington luminaries as well as colleagues, and supported and mentored young journalists. Sherrilyn Ifill, a cousin and president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, stated at the funeral service that her cousin "represented the most American of success stories." In her spare time, Ifill was an avid reader. She never married and had no children. Death Ifill died of breast and endometrial cancer on November 14, 2016, at age 61. According to CNN, she spent her final days at a Washington, D.C. hospice, surrounded by family and friends. On November 14, PBS NewsHour devoted their full show in tribute to her. Over the course of the following week, this developed into a series of tributes on various NewsHours as "Remembering Gwen." Sara Just of PBS and WETA-TV called Ifill "a journalist's journalist". President Obama extended his condolences to Ifill's family, saying that he "always appreciated [her] reporting even when [he] was at the receiving end of one of her tough interviews." Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, in expressing his condolences, described Ifill as "an incredibly talented and respected journalist." First Lady Michelle Obama was among the thousands of mourners who attended Ifill's funeral at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. References External links Gwen Ifill at PBS NewsHour Gwen Ifill at Washington Week 1955 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers African-American Methodists African-American journalists African-American television personalities African-American women journalists American people of Barbadian descent American people of Panamanian descent American political writers American television news anchors American women television journalists Deaths from breast cancer Deaths from endometrial cancer Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C. Harvard Kennedy School people Hispanic and Latino American people in television Hispanic and Latino American women journalists Journalists from