Dede Wilsey

Diane Buchanan "Dede" Wilsey (born 1944) is an American socialite, Republican Party donor, and philanthropist, who lives in San Francisco. She is the widow and heir of the San Francisco dairy and real estate businessman Alfred Spalding Wilsey, and the Chair Emerita of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Early life and background Wilsey was born Diane Dow Buchanan in 1944. Her father, Wiley T. Buchanan Jr., was the U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg and Austria and the White House Chief of Protocol during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower. Her maternal great-grandfather, Herbert Henry Dow, was the founder of Dow Chemical.

Buchanan enjoyed a privileged childhood in which she summered at her family's estate, Beaulieu House in Newport, Rhode Island, or in the south of France, a member of a social circle that included royalty and heads of government.

Personal life In 1965, at 21 years old, in a match opposed by her father, Buchanan married John Traina, a shipping and cruise magnate. They had two sons, Trevor and Todd Traina. and real estate developer Al Wilsey. The couple soon became popular San Francisco and Napa Valley, where they maintained a country house. Al Wilsey died in 2002 at the age of 82.

Wilsey is featured prominently in her stepson Sean Wilsey's memoir Oh the Glory of it All, in which the author described her as his "evil stepmother",

Philanthropy Wilsey has been a prominent supporter of several institutions in San Francisco, including its Grace Cathedral and the San Francisco Opera. Her discharge of her duties attracted further controversy when she authorized a payment to a former employee of the Museums which their chief financial officer thought to be improper. The whistle-blower was dismissed, but she was subsequently awarded a $2 million settlement to compensate her for her firing and the payment which had triggered the scandal was refunded. A former board member of the San Francisco Fine Arts Museum said she runs the museum "like a personal fiefdom". In 2022, the Museums' official website described her as their Chair Emerita.

She sometimes makes donations in her dogs' names. The Sparkle Wilsey Grooming Center of the Humane Society Silicon Valley was named after one of her deceased dogs. When the COVID-19 pandemic led to a greater need for recreational spaces, the city decided to ban traffic from the Promenade altogether. Wilsey and the Fine Arts Museums were opposed to the city's measure because it made access to the de Young less convenient, but a citywide consultation that revealed a supermajority in favor of the Promenade's pedestrianization led to a Board of Supervisors decision to keep the Promenade free from traffic permanently. In 2022, Wilsey and the Museums promoted a ballot that invited San Franciscans to reopen the Promenade to cars, but 61% of voters chose to preserve the status quo.

Wilsey also serves on the board of the Museum Concourse Community Partnership that owns and manages the 800-car underground garage which is the most convenient place for visitors to the de Young to park. According to both IRS filings and a 2019 Recreation & Parks study, the garage is usually mostly empty. Drivers' reluctance to use it has been attributed to high prices and poor administration.

Art collection Dede Wilsey started collecting art after her husband's death in 2002. She says she started acquiring paintings to escape the sadness of her deceased husband, first buying a Monet, and then a Cassatt. Her collection includes paintings by Gerome, Monet (including a water lily), Kandinsky, Hockney, Picasso, Koons (egg) and commissioned paintings of her dogs.

In 2022, she acquired the painting The Grand Canal and the Church of the Salute (Canaletto, 1740) for the de Young museum.

Portrayal in fiction Dede Halcyon, a character in Armistead Maupin's roman-fleuve Tales of the City, described by a reviewer of the 2019 miniseries based on the books as the "boozy art-patron friend" of the show's protagonist, is allegedly a "thinly-veiled portrayal" of Wilsey.