Midtown - People define our history...a continuing story... Diana Diamond: A Palo Alto Icon, Midtown Resident  

When Diana was growing up in Long Island, New York, her mother frequently took her into what she termed “the best city in the world.” Diana loves NYC and has to go back for a yearly fix, but California is her home. Where you came from shapes personality, and Diana is no exception.

One of her first claims to fame was being a “Rockette” in high school, which led her 15 member to lead the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade during her senior year. Diana met her first husband, Bill Diamond, at the University of Michigan; where she studied American Studies/English. They lived in Washington, D.C. where Bill was with the Naval Security Group. Bill was offered jobs in Lincoln, Ohio and Sunnyvale. Opting for Sunnyvale, they lived in an Eichler. When Bill changed jobs to work for Morton Salt, he was soon promoted to the corporate office in Chicago.

In Chicago, Diana says the height of her intellectual experience most days was “what to make her four boys for lunch.” After asking several women for suggestions on what she could do part time, she interviewed at the local paper and got a part time job covering school board and city council meetings, moving on to other topics. She loved being a Renaissance Woman – constantly learning – new ideas, new issues. Within two years she became the managing editor for the North Shore 7 papers and soon became senior managing editor for all 49 papers of Lerner Newspapers. This included writing editorials for 6-7 papers twice a week!

Her next move was to accept a Knight Fellowship at Stanford. Her alma mater – University of Michigan – had a similar program, where she was also accepted. She asked her boys for advice. In unison they chimed “California here we come!” It was a wonderful year. A key interest was “The Urban/Suburban relationship in America.”

After the fellowship, Diana joined the editorial board at the Mercury News, where she wrote editorials daily and a political column. She is especially proud of the 8-page Sunday review section she started. She then took a job as Editor-in-Chief at the State Bar of California, where she started the monthly California

Lawyer Magazine (a lawyer’s version of Time) that was distributed to over 150,000 lawyers in the state, writing feature stories focused on the legal aspects of such topics as water pollution. Under Diana’s tenure, the magazine won the Maggie prize for the Best Western Publication.

Diana then returned to Stanford to be an editor with the news and publications on campus where she focused on Science and Public Affairs. In the mid-80s, Diana became the point person, working with then President Donald Kennedy, on how to divest Stanford investments in South Africa. Many fascinating assignments at Stanford followed, including being appointed Director of Publications for Stanford Hospital. During this time, Diana met her second husband, Booker Morey, who is her most ardent supporter.

Diana then ventured out on her own forming Diamond Communications & Design. She was very busy with clients such as Fujitsu, Children’s Health Society, HP, Agilent, the City of Palo Alto, Stanford, and more. She created marketing publications, brochures, mailing and did graphic design. This was a very busy, very lucrative time.

One day, Dave Price called. He was starting a new publication, “The Post,” and wanted someone to work with him. Diana realized how much she loved the newspaper business and reporting on community matters. The rest of her journalism career is local history. She has worked for all 3 local publications, and still writes a blog for the Weekly.

Lest you think Diana is all work and no play, she has always had a love of art and exploring color - acrylics and

print making. This love parallels her talent in journalism. Art is more internal emotions; writing is more intellectual. She is also a fabulous cook and loves to experiment with new dishes, including over half of the recipes in Julia Child’s “Art of French Cooking”. She shares a love for her dog, Pippin, with her husband. Pippin is full of life and a bundle of energy -- so much so that Diana asked her physician if she could have a transfusion to get some of it!

Diana has traveled most of the world except Antarctica; she’ll get there one day. Her favorite city is Paris, but

Vietnam is a close second – the lush mountains, the green rice fields, the scooters, colorful garb, carts pulled by horses and cows, the friendly people, and fabulous food. Finally, Diana is a loyal supporter of service clubs. She was one of the first women admitted into the Rotarian Association in the early 1990s and became the second woman president of her Palo Alto club.