The university and her obituary, published this week, did not specify a cause of death.
As the universityâs vice president for development and university relations, Flanagan led âThe Campaign for Virginia Tech: Invent the Future,â which launched publicly in October 2007 with a goal of raising $1 billion. The university said that despite consultantsâ recommendation of an $800-million or less campaign, Tech raised $1.1 billion in gifts and pledges by June 2011.
Flanagan, the first woman to lead fundraising at the university, nearly doubled yearly gift income and expanded the fundraising staff by more than 70 staffers over her 15-year tenure in the top job.