Contributed by family
Irma Miller Finn Brosseau, former executive director and CEO of The National Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW), died peacefully at her home in Reston, VA, on April 15, 2023. Irma died at the age of 92 of dementia after living a full and happy life. She was preceded in death by her beloved son Jonathan Finn, her husband George Brosseau, her ex-husband David Finn, her parents Alfreda Dyer (Lee) and Harry Miller, and a large extended family. She is survived by her adoring daughters Hester Finn and Sarah (Steve) Ramos; granddaughter Daniella Ramos; stepdaughters Carole Stokes (Mike) and Catherine Brosseau (Frank Applestein); granddaughter Becca Rinas; grandson Ethan Stokes; and former stepson-in-law Mark Rinas.
Irma was born in Boston, MA on September 4, 1930, and grew up on the rocky beaches of Winthrop, MA, surrounded by her close extended family. She graduated from Simmons College with a BS in Journalism in 1952. Early in her career, she worked for the Houghton Mifflin publishing company and for newspapers in Boston, Anchorage, AK and, finally, Reston, where she raised her three children. From 1977 to 1987, she proudly worked her way up from Program Director to Executive Director and CEO of BPW in Washington, DC. She was a passionate feminist and was a pivotal person in the early years of the women's movement.
Irma and her late husband George founded The Brosseau Group, a management consulting business that specialized in working with boards of directors of nonprofit organizations. Irma was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1984 from Hawthorne College in Antrim, NH and was the 1987 recipient of the Simmons College Alumnae Achievement Award.
In the early 1960s, Irma and her first husband were founding members of Temple Beth Shalom in Anchorage. She was also one of the founders of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston, where she continued her spiritual growth while retaining her Jewish roots.
Irma was fortunate to follow her passion of writing starting as a young girl with diaries continuing through adulthood with journals and culminating with her two-volume memoir. What a gift this was.
Throughout her long and fulfilling life, Irma always maintained her core values: motherhood, family, close friendships, and forming treasured connections with others. She was an amazing woman, the best Mom and Bubbe, and her sweet, engaging, beautiful presence is deeply missed by all who knew her.
Visitation with the family was held April 18-19, 2023 at the Ramos home and a memorial service was held on June 17, 2023 at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston.
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