Dede Wilsey

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Diane B. Wilsey (Dede Wilsey) is a San Francisco socialite and philanthropist, the widow of prominent San Francisco businessman Al Wilsey. She was born Diane Dow Buchanan in 1944, to Mr. and Mrs. Wiley T. Buchanan, Jr.. Her father was, variously, the U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg and Austria, as well as the White House chief of protocol under Dwight Eisenhower. Her great-grandfather, Herbert Henry Dow, was the founder of Dow Chemical. She married shipping magnate and art collector John Traina in 1965, and had two sons with him (Todd and Trevor Traina). In 1980, she married dairy millionaire Wilsey, who had recently divorced his third wife, Pat Montandon. She and Wilsey were fixtures on the social axes of San Francisco and Napa Valley, where they maintained a country home. She remains a prominent figure in the artistic and cultural spheres of San Francisco, spearheading the rebuilding of the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, as well as the establishment of numerous trusts for organizations such as the San Francisco Ballet. She also is featured prominently in her stepson Sean Wilsey's book Oh the Glory of it All in which the author describes her as his "evil stepmother" and "an unbelievable cliché."

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Diane B. Wilsey is the President of the Board of Trustees of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Society queen, evil stepmother or both?