Photos: The life of Don Diamond
The life in photos of Tucson developer and philanthropist Donald Diamond, who owned Diamond Ventures.
Diamond was born in New York and first became enamored with Tucson when he attended the Brandes School, a boarding school near where Park Place now stands.
He returned to the East Coast for high school in Washington, D.C., served in the U.S. Army Infantry during World War II and attended the University of Arizona from 1947 to 1949. He met his wife, Joan, at UA.
He retired as a commodities broker in 1965 and moved his family to Tucson. He began to dabble in real estate. Over the next 50 years Diamond became a large, if not the largest, private land owner in Pima County and one of the most influential private-sector businesspeople and deal-makers in Arizona. – Ann Brown
Don Diamond
Joyce and Don Diamond with their father in 1937. Diamond was born in New York. His parents were Nathan and Sylvia Brooks Diamond and his sister is Joyce Diamond Eskwitt.
Don Diamond
Don Diamond, ca.1940, at Brandes Boarding School in Tucson. The lot is currently occupied by Best Buy, across from Park Place on Broadway Road.He first became enamored with Tucson when he attended the Brandes School, a boarding school north side of East Broadway, across from where Park Place mall now stands.
Don Diamond
Don and Joan Diamond on their wedding day in 1952. Diamond met Joan while at the University of Arizona. She was majoring in voice and piano. He returned to the East Coast for high school in Washington, D.C., served in the U.S. Army Infantry during World War II and attended the University of Arizona from 1947 to 1949, where he met future wife — Joan Brown from Des Moines, Iowa — the love of his life of his life. The two were married for 64 years until her death in 2016.
Don Diamond
Don and Joan Diamond with daughters Jennifer, Deanne and Helene.
Don Diamond
Don Diamond family in 1962. Donald, Joan, Jennifer, Deanne, Helene. Photo taken in Sag Harbor, New York, where the family spent many Summers.
Don Diamond
Don Diamond, right with Arizona Sen. John McCain.
Don Diamond
Land developer Don Diamond, right, discusses the proposed Rocking K development plan southeast of Tucson with reporters on Nov. 13, 1989.
Don Diamond
Don Diamond in 1989,
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Don Diamond at his Tucson office in 1989.
Community leaders, Don Diamond
Some of Tucson’s most notable community leaders, photographed in 1994 with downtown Tucson in the distance. From left, Donald Pitt, land developer and member of the Arizona Board of Regents; Manuel Pacheco, president of the University of Arizona; Don Diamond, land developer; Dorothy Finley, owner of Finley Distributing; and auto dealer Jim Click.
Don and Joan Diamond
Don and Joan Diamond with Gov. Jane Hull, right, in 1997.
His politics were centrist and pragmatic, directed to solving problems and promoting Tucson and Arizona, said former Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt.
Don Diamond told the Tucson Citizen in 1989 that backing political candidates was a privilege of democracy: “It’s one of the best expressions we all have.
Don Diamond
Don and Joan Diamond were at the top Tucson’s shortlist of go-to people for fundraising efforts and they frequently dug deeply into their pockets to support a long, inclusive list of local leadership, economic development and social service organizations, including the University of Arizona, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the United Way of Southern Arizona.
Don Diamond
Don Diamond posing with a Cuban woman in Cuba.
Don Diamond
Don Diamond “retired” to Tucson from Wall Street in 1965, then began a long and varied career here.
The business interests of prominent Tucson developer Donald R. Diamond, who died Monday at 91, went beyond land into other arenas — literally.
Diamond was one of the most influential civic leaders in modern Tucson history.