Dede Wilsey

Diane Buchanan "Dede" Wilsey is a San Francisco socialite, Republican Party donor, and philanthropist. She is the widow and heir of the San Francisco dairy and real estate businessman Al 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. When she made her debut, while a student at Connecticut College, Town & Country Magazine featured her on its cover. Personal life In 1965, in a match opposed by her father, Buchanan married John Traina, a shipping magnate and art collector. They had two sons, Todd and Trevor Traina. A year after parting from Traina in 1980, she married the dairy product mogul and real estate developer Al Wilsey, who had recently divorced his third wife, a friend of Buchanan's, the social columnist Patricia Montandon. The couple soon became leading lights of the high society of San Francisco and Napa Valley, where they maintained a country house. Al Wilsey died in 2002 at the age of 82.