Diane Frances Malley died peacefully on November 12, 2023, at the Nanaimo Seniors Village, surrounded and supported by family. Born June 14, 1943, in Ottawa, Ontario, to Marcia and John Malley, she is survived by her husband, Phil Williams; three daughters, Karin, Cedar (Lisa), and Laura Mathias; three grandchildren, Griffin, Aya, and Sage; and many loving friends and family.

Diane moved to Vancouver, BC, in her primary school years. As an ambitious and independent young woman she secured a spot at UBC with the support of her family. There she studied zoology and met her first husband and father of her three children, Jack Mathias.

Diane initially wanted to study oceanography, but as there were no female bathrooms on the boats, it was not permitted. With a passion for the environment and a will to achieve in the male-dominated field of science, she made her own way. Diane was determined to have what they said she could not: a family and a career.

After completing her MSc at UBC, Diane obtained a Canadian scholarship to complete her PhD at the University of Michigan. Then with baby Karin in town, she and her husband travelled to Malaysia to teach at the University of Science in Penang with support from the Ford Foundation. There they met Sila Ramanathan who, with her son Mohan Mongan, would move with them to Canada to become a lifelong part of the family, helping with home and child care.

Diane worked at the Canadian Fisheries and Oceans Freshwater Institute from 1975 to 1997. She became involved in the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), a unique natural laboratory in Ontario for scientific research. Her early work involved exploring the impact of acid rain on freshwater zooplankton. Cedar and Laura were born during this time. She brought her family to ELA whenever she could, and her daughters have many transformative memories of being in nature, helping in the lab and being involved in research projects.

In 1997, Diane left the Freshwater Institute to start PDK Projects Inc. with her second husband, Phil Williams, consulting on projects of environmental pollution using Near Infrared (NIR) technology. Diane pioneered the use of NIR Spectroscopy at ELA to measure carbon, phosphorous, and heavy metals in lake water and sediments, as well as carbon sequestration in peat bogs. They moved to Nanaimo, BC, in 2003 and continued this work together.

Diane was always involved in advocacy work. As a strong feminist and environmentalist, she was on many committees for women’s labour rights, environmental sustainability, and community health. She was a true scientist, always open minded and exploring the world with curiosity. She carried herself with a quiet, feminine strength. Ever the gracious host, she enjoyed having parties and had a beautiful way of making people feel welcome and bringing people together. She passed on her countercultural spirit to her daughters, as well as her complete faith that her daughters could do anything they put their minds to. She always championed their learning, growth, and development.

For the last 8 years of her life, Diane lived with progressive dementia, and the last two years were spent at the Nanaimo Seniors Village in Nanaimo, BC. As her memories left her, what shone through was her unconditional love, gentle kindness, and wonderful sense of humour. She was always supportive, kind, non-judgemental, and curious. She will be greatly missed.