The Alexandria small business community suffered a tragic loss as news spread that Gloria Flanagan, the longtime Assistant Director of the Small Business Development Center, died May 15 following a battle with urothelial cancer. She was 70.

For more than 20 years, Flanagan helped thousands of small business owners navigate the maze of city permits and regulations. Her role and expertise were relied upon even more so following the retirement of SBDC founder and executive director Bill Reagan in 2022.

“Gloria was the first person that most entrepreneurs encountered when they contacted the Small Business Development Center,” said Reagan, who hired Flanagan in the early days of the SBDC. “Whether they were an existing business or new entrepreneur with a business concept, Gloria was someone who put them through a process of analyzing what their challenges were and coaching them through the process of how to solve a problem.” 

Gloria Brogan Flanagan was born June 2, 1952, and raised in Binghamton, N.Y., and New Brunswick, N.J. She moved to the Washington, D.C. area in the fall of 1970 to attend Georgetown University, where she met her future husband, William Flanagan, on the first day of freshman classes.

The two were married in June of 1975 as Flanagan completed her undergraduate degree in International Affairs and Juris Doctor, both from Georgetown University.

Upon graduation, Flanagan worked in postal rate law at the U.S. Postal Service until the birth of the first of her three children in 1983. She became a stay-at-home-mother until reentering the workforce in the mid-1990s as an aide to City Councilwoman Lois Walker.

After Walker lost her reelection bid in 2000, Flanagan transitioned to working for the Alexandria Small Business Development Center, where she would serve as Assistant Director until the time of her death.

“Lois Walker was one of my mentors, which is how I met Gloria,” said Reagan, who hired Flanagan in 2000. “She was really knowledgeable about so many of the details about business formation and setting up a business in the city of Alexandria. Whether it was a website designer, financial analyst or attorney, Gloria would be the one to direct business owners to the resources that we had at the Small Business Development Center. She was by far the most prominent member of the SBDC that businesses would work with.”

During her time with the SBDC, Flanagan developed the organization’s educational programming and counseled small business owners in areas such as Startup, City Processes, and Federal/State Procurement.

Flanagan lived in the Braddock Heights area for more than 40 years, raising her family there and earning a reputation as a passionate cook, baker and hostess.

“I cannot imagine living anywhere else,” Flanagan said in an online profile. “It is the perfect combination of a thriving city with a small-town feel.”

Flanagan is survived by her three children: sons William and James, and daughter Kerry; sisters Patricia Frantz of West Chester, Pa., and Margaret Woods of Wallingford, Pa., and brother James Brogan of Point Pleasant, N.J.; four godchildren; 14 nieces and nephews; and 11 grandnieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her husband William Flanagan in 2010.

A funeral Mass was held May 24 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown, where she was a parishioner for over 50 years. Interment will take place at Ivy Hill Cemetery in a private ceremony at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Together We Bake or the Father McKenna Center.

“When I retired in 2022, I was able to hear all of the accolades directed at me but it wasn’t just me,” Reagan said. “I got the accolades but I know that it was because of the work that Gloria and several others had done for businesses. What I am so sad about is that Gloria never had the chance to retire and have that same experience of hearing people come forward to let her know just how much she meant to them and their success.”