Diane Bailey was born and raised by her widowed Mom in New York City. She was the oldest of six girls and had to grow up fast as she became the caretaker of her younger sisters while Mom was at work. She handled this with care and precision and at the same time kept up with her studies becoming an excellent student.

While attending the State University of New York at Albany, she became proficient in languages, especially French and Italian, and studied abroad to hone her language skills. As a student, she also was drawn to journalism and radio and had her own show on the school’s station.

After graduation she returned to New York and worked for the United Nations, initially as a tour guide informing the public about the Organization’s activities, in English, French and Italian. She was able to turn that start into a 35 year career at the UN, for most of which she produced radio programs heard worldwide, providing international news and features that in many instances were the only source of news for the people who listened. She retired from the UN as Chief of the English Language Unit for UN Radio.

In addition, she worked on many missions for the United Nations, including helping to ensure that the first elections of the newly independent Namibia were free and fair and spending three years in the Horn of Africa, providing information as part of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, ending the war between those countries. She also covered conferences around the world on all areas of human activity, from population and development, to climate change, to women's issues, of particular interest to her.

She was a true humanitarian and tried to bring attention to events and issues that were not front page news. One example was female genital mutilation in Africa. Nigeria recently banned the act of genital mutilation: The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 was passed in the senate on May 5 2015.

Following her retirement, she became active with the International Association of Women in Radio & Television, participating in the establishment of a branch in the United States, and serving as its first Treasurer. This allowed her to keep telling the stories of people who needed to be heard.

Ever desirous of contributing to her community, wherever she was, Diane also volunteered as a teacher of ESL in her neighborhood during her retirement.

An athlete to her core, she was a medium-distance runner and bike rider her whole life, having run a 10-mile race just weeks before the diagnosis of her final cancer. She ran races with her sisters and enjoyed hiking and bike-riding with her son throughout her life. She also had a passion for tennis and was an avid spectator.

Diane had a thirst for growth and self-development. As a meditator and student of yoga for decades, she developed a serenity that made it easy for others to confide in her. She loved people and made a difference in the lives of so many: those she touched through her professional activities, her colleagues and their families, her own family, her friends and her son Cedric, who was always at the center of her huge heart.