The Green Foothills community is deeply saddened by the passing of Rod Diridon, Sr., a longtime ally and supporter of Green Foothills, on April 3. Rod served on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors from 1975 to 1995 and was a strong advocate for open space, parks, and public transit. In recent years, he was a vocal advocate for climate action locally and internationally, and actively supported the local campaigns to protect Juristac, save Coyote Valley, and close the Reid-Hillview Airport.
An Ardent Champion of Conservation
A lifelong environmental champion, Rod co-chaired the early 1970s County Parks Charter Fund and championed the purchase of an open space buffer around the urban areas. Among his proudest achievements was increasing the County parks from 800 to over 43,000 acres. He campaigned for and helped negotiate legislation authorizing the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority. Given this and his unwavering support for efforts to fund the Authority’s work, this year’s Measure D is dedicated in his honor.
In 1978, Rod led three other Supervisors in abruptly halting the Valley’s rampant sprawl by freezing subdivisions outside city urban service areas. As a result, he and Supervisors McCorquodale and Steinberg faced an intense, developer-led recall – which they defeated, with support from the environmental community. After leaving public office, Rod chaired the County’s League of Conservation Voters for almost 20 years, building the organization into a major political force that educates and endorses environmental candidates for local office.
A Leader in Transportation
Rod focused his leadership on countless issues, including climate, the environment, arts and culture, higher education, community organizations, and philanthropy. Perhaps of most note was his leadership of public transportation. In 1979, he presided over the development of the nation’s first Integrated Environmental Management Plan and Regional Transportation Master Plan as President of the Association of Bay Area Governments. He chaired over 100 transportation and sustainability programs from the international to the local level. Upon his retirement from the Board of Supervisors, the San Jose Diridon Station was dedicated in his honor.
A Friend of Green Foothills
Rod and his wife, Gloria Duffy, were longtime supporters of Green Foothills. He fondly recalled sitting around the fireplace and discussing environmental issues with Wallace Stegner, Green Foothills’ first president, and Frank and Josephine Duveneck, Hidden Villa’s founders, when he was a young man just entering politics in the early 1970s. In 2005, he wrote us a letter that we treasure, saying, “Thank you for the very important work done in the past and currently by the Committee for Green Foothills. Wally Stegner would be proud of you!”
In 2021, Rod was an honoree at Green Foothills’ Nature’s Inspiration celebration, and in 2022, he added his signature in support of Green Future: Envisioning 2062, our plan for what we hope to accomplish for local nature by our centennial in 2062.
Living the Values He Championed
In a short personal biography that he shared with us a few years ago, Rod wrote that he and Gloria “are ridiculously happy in their Santa Clara home with 34 solar panels, two Teslas, and overgrown with 32 fruit trees, a home garden, and happy grandchildren. The family strives diligently to sustain a wonderful future for Earth.”
To learn more about Rod’s environmental work and his connection to Green Foothills, watch this video from the 2021 Nature’s Inspiration celebration, where he was honored.