Obituary: Diane Duarte, 1950-2026
Longtime Santa Monica Canyon resident Diane Duarte passed away on July 24, 2026, after a seven-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 75.
A seventh-generation Californian whose ancestors helped found the city of Duarte, she is survived by her husband of 35 years, Tim McDaniel, and her four siblings: Claire Walker, Vicky Fashing, and Peggy Matern, and her brother, David Duarte.
Diane moved to the Canyon in 1982 as a renter of a small 600-square-foot cabin reached by 56 stairs. She later bought the property and made it home for the rest of her life.
She was driven by creativity. In her early twenties, she persuaded Phil Knight of Nike to hire her and open the company’s first Los Angeles office, where she headed promotions and marketing for eight years. She outfitted celebrities, including Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp, Belinda Carlisle, and Elton John in custom Nike shoes—no contracts, no money exchanged, only Diane’s personality and goodwill. She never lost her love of tennis from her days at Nike, where she would always attend Wimbledon with friends and athletes.
In the mid-1990s, she partnered with Freddie Fields, former head of MGM and founder of ICM, and producer Jerome Hellman (“Midnight Cowboy,” “Coming Home”) to help establish Network Event Theater (NET). The company used satellite technology to broadcast first-run movies, concerts, lectures, and other events simultaneously to college campuses—an era before widespread streaming. By late 1997, NET reached about 36 campuses and 800,000 students. It traded on Nasdaq with a market capitalization of approximately $43.5 million.
Diane originated the retail concept Duff’s Cakemix, founded with Food Network star DufGoldman of Ace of Cakes and Charm City Cakes. The do-it-yourself cake and cupcake decorating studio opened in June 2012 next door to Charm City Cakes West at 8302 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.
Throughout the 2000s, she wrote screenplays and novels. She wrote and directed the short spiritual film, “Higher Grounds,” which won several short film festival awards.Diane is remembered as a beautiful, fearless woman who radiated positivity. Her magnetic personality and humor captivated all who knew her.
Diane loved animals and her little cabin on the hill in Santa Monica Canyon, where she did all her writing. She will be missed.
