In Memoriam: Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, 1932-2020

Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, professor emerita of English at William Patterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, died late last month. She was 88 years old.

A native of Philadelphia, Professor Mollenkott was a graduate of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. She held a master’s degree from Temple University in Philadelphia and a Ph.D. from New York University.

Dr. Mollenkott taught at Temple University and  Bob Jones University. She later chaired the English departments at Shelton College in Ringwood, New Jersey, and Nyack College in New York. She taught for 30 years at William Patterson University, before retiring in 1997.

Professor Mollenkott was the author or co-author of 13 books including Omnigender: A Trans-Religious Approach (Pilgrim Press, 2001). This book won the Lambda Literary Award and the Ben Franklin Award. She was a founding member of the Evangelical & Ecumenical Women’s Caucus, now known as Christian Feminism Today. Her papers are archived at Pacific School of Religion’s Center for LGBTQ & Gender Studies in Berkeley, California.