Hagfors' father, Dr. Edwin Hagfors, was a teacher and translator from Helsinki, and her mother, Ulla Charlotta Marchander, was from Sweden. Hagfors also had an older sister, Aino Elisabet Hagfors. In 1954, Irja Hagfors married Atos Wirtanen, a writer and Member of Parliament, who died in 1979.Eduskunnan matrikkeli
