In 1971, Pittman officially retired at the age of 70, but continued to work at the NIH as an "unpaid consultant."[11] During her prolific career, Dr. Pittman was the recipient of numerous awards, including an honorary LL.D. from Hendrix College and the Federal Women's Award in 1970.[12] To recognize her mother's hard work in helping her and her siblings pay for their college education at Hendrix, Pittman in 1981 created the Virginia A. McCormick Pittman Distinguished Professorship.[13] She received the EMD Millipore Alice C. Evans Award from the American Society for Microbiology in 1990.[14] In 1994, she was honored with an NIH Lectureship in her name.[15] A collection of her papers is held at the NIH's National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland and an oral history is available from the Office of NIH History.[16] Dr. Pittman died on August 19, 1995 in Cheverly, Maryland and is buried in Prairie Grove, Arkansas.[17]