Diane Cassidy, 92, passed away at home in Cupertino, CA  on 12/9/22 after a brief battle with cancer. Diane was a photographer who specialized in digitally-enhanced images, but in more recent years she explored making artist’s books, encaustic painting, and memoir writing. Diane was born in Minneapolis and grew up in Rochester, MN. She moved to the bay area in 1961. Originally an art education major at SFSU, she completed her B.A. in Medical Technology from SJSU in 1969. She worked as a Med Tech at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center from 1969 to 1991. During that time, she started taking photography classes at De Anza and Foothill Colleges, then completed her M.A. in photography at SJSU in 1990. She was a member of Palo Alto’s co-op Gallery House from 1983 to 1998. She was a founding member of Bay Area Book Artists. In 2010 she published her memoir, The Map is Not the Territory. Most recently, she started learning encaustic painting and producing photo-encaustic artwork. All her life, Diane was fond of exploring in the woods, lifting downed tree branches to seek out insects, lizards, snakes, frogs and toads. She had a special fondness for caterpillars and tadpoles. She is survived by husband James Cassidy, sons Tom (Loretta) Conway, Michael (John) Conway, and daughter Ann Topping. She was preceded in death by son Sam Cassidy. A Celebration of Life is currently being planned for late Spring, 2023.