Dennis M Wagner Jr.

Dennis M. Wagner, Jr. was born April 8th, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois and he passed away peacefully at home in Fairfax, Virginia on March 5th, 2025. He dedicated his life to serving his country, first in the US Army Reserves serving overseas in the First Iraqi War, and later in a 20-year career with the FBI. The highlights of that career include receiving the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation in 2004, receiving the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in 2005, and the many lifelong friends he made along the way. In his retirement, Dennis traveled across the country, taking pictures, spending time with friends and family, and making memories. He trained to thru-hike the Appalachian trail, and in 2023, he hiked over 100 miles before injury and illness took him off the trail. He was known to his trail friends as “Sneaky.”

Dennis fiercely battled cholangiocarcinoma, a rare form of cancer tied directly to his work with the FBI in the wake of 9/11. If you visit the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA, look through the many artifacts that were gathered at the site – Dennis was rightfully proud of the work that he did to catalogue and clean many of those pieces to honor the victims.

Dennis is survived by his wife, Julia (Hamacher) Wagner, and his children, Petra Wagner and Bret Wagner (Erika Killion). He will be so greatly missed.

Whether you live near or far, his family would love to hear stories and collect photos. Please email anything you would like to share to [email protected].

Memorial mass will be held at Saint Mary of Sorrows Catholic Church, 10500 Zion Drive, Fairfax, VA on March 14th at 1:00 pm, with a final military salute in the church entrance hall shortly before the service and a reception in St. Joseph’s Hall immediately after the service. A celebration of life will follow on March 15th at Bret and Erika’s home in Alexandria. Please reach out for more details.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be directed to VFW Post 8469, Post Building Improvement fund (linked below) in memory of Dennis Wagner. You can donate via Venmo on that same page, annotating “In memory of Dennis Wagner.”

You can also celebrate Dennis and honor his memory by raising a toast to him at your favorite local brewery or by listening to some of his favorite songs on Spotify (also linked below).