Jackie Ferrara Dies at 95 After Choosing Medical Aid in Dying

27 October 2025

Jackie Ferrara. Credit : Carly Erickson/BFA/Shutterstock

The art world has lost one of its quietly formidable figures. Jackie Ferrara, the American sculptor known for her stacked-wood plank minimalist constructions and monumental public commissions, died on October 22, 2025, in Basel, Switzerland, through the process of medical aid in dying (MAiD), according to her estate and a People Magazine report.

Ferrara was 95 years old at the time of her death. Despite being in “good health,” she chose to end her life through the Swiss clinic Pegasos. Her decision followed two falls in the past year, which she described in a recent interview as catalysts in her decision-making she said she “didn’t want a housekeeper” and wished to remain independent.

Her passing through MAiD adds a complex dimension to her legacy. The Swiss model permits assisted dying even in the absence of a terminal illness, distinguishing itself from jurisdictions like most U.S. states where the practice is legal only under strict conditions and typically for those with terminal diagnoses. Ferrara’s case therefore invites renewed discussion about autonomy, dignity and choice at life’s end in the arts and beyond.

Born Jacqueline Hirschhorn on November 17, 1929, Ferrara emerged as a key voice in post-minimalist sculpture. Her work sometimes austere, always considered often comprised ascending pyramids, ziggurats, and stacked planks, crafted in wood, granite or steel, and located in both gallery spaces and urban public sites. Her pieces are held by major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and various international collections.

In the mid-1970s Ferrara built her reputation through elegant, minimalist forms that were nonetheless deeply spatial and interactive. The public commissions that followed including outdoor amphitheatres and plaza sculptures expanded the language of minimalist sculpture into communal contexts, blending form with function without sacrificing visual rigour. Her work remains characterized by precision, restraint and a strong architectural sensibility.

Her decision to end her life under MAiD arrangements can perhaps be seen as consistent with a lifelong commitment to self-determination and control over her work, her space and now her exit. She lived most of her later years in New York’s SoHo area, active in her studio and engaged with her craft, even as she approached her tenth decade. Several institutional remembers highlight her generosity as a mentor and her continued involvement in arts discourse.

Yet the choice she made does not come without questions. It raises issues that extend beyond the arts: about how society understands ageing, dependency and autonomy; how the legal frameworks for MAiD respond to cases of non-terminal illnesses; how cultural assumptions about “health” and “qualifying illnesses” are challenged. Ferrara’s case may well become part of the conversation in medical ethics, right-to-die legislation and end-of-life practise, especially among older creators and public figures.

Her passing also invites a reflection on how the arts community acknowledges death not only when it comes suddenly but when it is chosen and how chosen death intersects with a life defined by structure, order and aesthetic intentionality. Ferrara’s sculptures relied on a logic of geometry and presence; her choice suggests a personal logic about the space and agency one wishes to retain until the end.

In tribute, institutions, fellow artists and students are quietly celebrating a life of careful building, creative persistence and quiet influence. While many famed artists leave legacies mapped in exhibitions and market records, Ferrara’s feels equally embedded in the spaces she shaped: the public plazas, museum lobbies, sculpture gardens that continue to invite interaction. These remain as constants even as debates over her final act begin.

Jackie Ferrara leaves behind a body of work that spans decades, continents and forms and now a story of departure that many will engage with in the years ahead. As the arts community honours her, so too will the discourse she enters around autonomy and choice at life’s end.