Dolores Huerta, the labor organizer who helped build the United Farm Workers and spent decades advocating for civil rights, died October 28 at age 96, her family and foundation announced.
The foundation said she died at home in Bakersfield, California, with close family present. Associated Press and Scripps also reported her death. Her family asked for privacy and said plans to recognize and celebrate her life would follow. Scripps reported that a cause of death was not announced.
Huerta’s organizing career grew out of her work as a teacher in California’s agricultural communities. Her foundation described how seeing farmworker families’ hardships led her toward community organizing and legislative advocacy.
In 1962, she joined César Chavez in building the National Farm Workers Association. It later merged with the Filipino-led Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee in the organization’s development into the United Farm Workers, according to the foundation’s obituary.
She became a leading negotiator and helped organize the Delano grape strike and national boycott, campaigns seeking better pay and working conditions for agricultural workers. Her work connected workplace bargaining with consumer participation and broader civil rights organizing.
President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Huerta was also closely associated with the Spanish-language organizing slogan “Sí, se puede,” which spread well beyond the farmworker movement.
She established the Dolores Huerta Foundation with three daughters in 2003. The organization continues community organizing and leadership training in California’s Central Valley. Its obituary said a planned Peace and Justice Cultural Center is expected to open in 2027; that remains a future project.
Sources Dolores Huerta Foundation — Obituary and family statement: https://doloreshuerta.org/in-memory-of-dolores-huerta/ Associated Press, carried by WECT — Death announcement: https://www.wect.com/2026/10/28/dolores-huerta-pioneering-labor-organizer-civil-rights-icon-dies-96/ Scripps, carried by WMAR — Death announcement and career background: https://www.wmar2news.com/obituaries/dolores-huerta-united-farm-workers-co-founder-dies-at-96