Artscene: Cantor Arts Center is beneficiary of Atherton woman's 'retirement' Artscene: Cantor Arts Center is beneficiary of Atherton woman's 'retirement' (March 09, 2005)

By Renee Batti

Almanac News Editor

Sue Diekman had a dream job for many years working for the nonprofit arm of a successful corporation. As a VIP of the Pacific Telesis Foundation, she enjoyed the challenging environment, stability and healthy salary of the corporate world while being able to indulge her passion for the arts.

When Ms. Diekman decided at the age of 55 that it was time to do something different, she retired, and the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University got the dream volunteer.

That was in 1998, and so impressive has been her work with the arts center since then that last year she was one of 15 people honored with a Governor's Award from Stanford Associates, an organization that encourages and recognizes volunteers who make outstanding contributions in service to the university.

Ms. Diekman, an Atherton resident since 1977, is a woman whose demeanor reflects the seriousness and intelligence that surely contributed to her success in the corporate world. She is warm without being effusive, straightforward in addressing questions without being garrulous. And, she is not given to hyperbole.

So when she says that the Cantor center "is like my home," one is inclined to take her seriously. She has poured inestimable volunteer hours and energy into her work on the Membership Board of Governors and as a member of committees and councils at the arts center. And when she walks through the center's halls and galleries, she can bask in the satisfaction that her efforts have contributed to building renovations and to the acquisition of numerous pieces of artwork on exhibit.

Ms. Diekman's time "at home" has probably increased since December. Last fall, she was recruited by Stanford President John Hennessy to be a founding member of Cantor's newly formed volunteer Director's Council, established to advise the center's director and staff on issues involving the museum's collections and development.

The council, which includes former Stanford president Gerhard Casper and fellow Athertonians Doris and Don Fisher and Jill and John Freidenrich, met for the first time in December, and Ms. Diekman assumed the chair.
Jumping in

Ms. Diekman jumped into her volunteer work with Stanford's museum before its 1999 reopening as the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts. Closed since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the museum underwent extensive renovation and expansion, and the work of volunteer leaders and fundraisers was critical.

No one knew that more than Thomas K. Seligman, the center's director.

When Ms. Diekman was considering retiring, she and her husband, John Diekman, met with Mr. Seligman to discuss a gift to the museum, she recalls. "He encouraged me to think about getting involved on the board," she says, and about 11 months shy of retirement, that's just what she did. Initially, she served as vice chair for development; two years later, she became chair, a position she held for three years.

Although Mr. Seligman and his new recruit had graduated in the same class at Stanford, in 1965, they didn't know each other back then, Ms. Diekman says. They first met when he was deputy director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and she was in charge of the Pacific Telesis Foundation division that made contributions to nonprofits in the arts world. The foundation was the nonprofit entity of the Pacific Telesis Group.

At that time, they worked together on an Ansel Adams exhibition at the de Young Museum that Ms. Diekman's foundation was loaning and funding. Mr. Seligman says that encounter, and knowledge of her work in general at the foundation over the years, fostered "enormous respect for her professional capacity, and also her human capacity."

And now that she's involved with the Cantor center, Mr. Seligman's respect has deepened because of "what Sue does with her extraordinary abilities, her people skills, her willingness to devote all of herself to this place," he says.

Citing her "extraordinary leadership on our board ... and within our strategic planning process," Mr. Seligman says: "We're always looking for people who have certain skills. I think Sue has been one of the most effective (board members) of all time.

"And, she's a super, super person."

During her seven-plus years of involvement at Cantor, Ms. Diekman has focused on, among other things, community outreach, helping to build the center's endowment, and creating an operating plan to strengthen its membership organization.
Early exposure

A native of Orange County, Ms. Diekman says her exposure to art began at an early age, when she took art, piano and ballet lessons.

She began college at the University of California, Los Angeles, and transferred to Stanford her junior year. "As a student, I made many visits to the museum, because it always seemed like such a serene, contemplative place," she recalls.

When she worked for Pacific Telesis, "it was a wonderful opportunity to be exposed to the nonprofit world ... and it enhanced my interest in art."

Before retiring, she did some volunteer work for the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and served on its board. She's still active with the program, which, she says, "is close to my heart." She also has served on the Menlo School board of trustees.

She and her husband John, who owns 5AM Ventures, a venture capital company in Menlo Park, have been major benefactors of the Cantor center. Their donations, along with those of several foundations and funds, have helped purchase two recent acquisitions at Cantor: "Still Life," a bronze work by Jacques Lipchitz, and "Lighter than Air," a painted wood and steel sculpture by Theodore Roszak.

But just as the financial contributions have enriched the museum's collection, Ms. Diekman makes it clear that Cantor has reciprocated. "Being involved with Cantor just really enriched my life."

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