On Saturday, June 15, 2024, Margaret Regan passed away, surrounded by her immediate family, after a brief but brave fight with cancer. Her life, like her diagnosis and fight with cancer, was shorter than anyone expected. But she approached her last few months with all the love, humor, and acceptance for which we all knew Margaret.

Margaret led an impressive life in her 71 years. Born in 1953, she was the eighth of 11 children to Amy and Clyde Regan. Raised in Sulphur, La., Margaret graduated from St. Louis High School and earned an honors degree in Mathematics from McNeese State University with an honors degree in Mathematics. After working at Dow Chemical, she attended Harvard Business School, where she was the first person from McNeece to go to HBS. Having survived two frigid Boston winters, Margaret decided to move back south where she worked for Weingarten Realty and later, Hines Interests. In 1990, Margaret started her own real estate company, Regan & Associates (her daughter Christine, even as a five-year-old, used to joke that she was the “Associate”). In that role, Margaret brokered hundreds of deals for a wide range of clients. You cannot find a part of Houston where Margeret did not have an impact.

If asked though, she would be quick to say it was not academics or work that she was most proud of, but her family. Margaret married Fletcher Thorne-Thomsen in 1986 and they were blessed in subsequent years with two children, Carl and Christine. Margaret was always present in her children’s lives, reading in their classrooms, serving as both boy and girl scout leader, organizing field trips and class functions, and mentoring Carl and Christine and their friends. If there was a job to be done, Margaret was the one to call and the one to do it.

Margaret excitedly welcomed Alexa (married Carl in 2021) and Harry (married Christine in 2023) into the family. The family loved spending time together, traveling across the world, visiting National Parks, and more recently spending time in the Texas Hill Country. About five years ago Margaret, Fletcher, Carl, and Christine bought a ranch in Leakey, Texas, where they have had the chance to spend significant time together conserving and restoring native wildlife habitat. Margaret loved listening to and connecting with nature; you could regularly find her on the back deck of the house listening to birds, with a cold Love Street beer, and a good book. Speaking of books, Margaret was an avid reader, reading at least two books a week and the New York Times and Wall Street Journal cover to cover. She also loved movies and relished the movie group she attended every month.

Her life is impossible to sum up in a brief obituary. Margaret had a unique impact, with both breadth (reaching many, many people) and depth (deeply influencing and helping each person she interacted with). For anyone who knew Margaret this is clear, from having snacks in the car at airport or school pickups, sharing a tailored book or movie recommendation, watching kids in a pinch, emailing her recipes, sending care packages with her famous cookies, always listening deeply and asking about your loved ones, to everything in between.

She is survived by her husband, Fletcher; children, Carl and Christine; daughter-in-law, Alexa; son-in-law, Harry; siblings, Pat, Barbara, Dan, Kathy, Tim, Elaine, and Bridget, and of course her grand-dog, Annie. In lieu of flowers or other gifts, the family asks that you either donate to a charity you care about or spend a little extra time, like Margaret would have, with a child or someone else you love.