Rosalind Diamond (“Diamond”) was born in New York in September 1930 to a family consisting of her parents, Helen and Eugene, and her older brother, Ira. She died on June 30.
Her family moved to San Francisco and then to Los Angeles during the Great Depression after her father and his brother lost their drugstore. She met her future husband, Elmer Grossman, in a Jewish youth group in Riverside, California. He went to UC Berkeley when he was 16. Diamond joined him there three years later when she was 18 and majored in English.
After Elmer graduated, they married and moved to San Francisco where Elmer attended medical school while she commuted back to Berkeley to complete her degree. She then enrolled in San Francisco State University where she earned a teaching credential. They then moved to Santa Ana where Diamond taught fourth grade. When Elmer was drafted at the end of the Korean conflict, they moved again, to Travis Air Force Base. Their first daughter, Deena, was born at Travis. When Elmer’s military service was completed, they moved to Park Merced in San Francisco, where Diamond’s parents were living. Their second daughter, Marianna, was born there. The next year they moved to Berkeley, where Elmer joined the Berkeley Pediatric Medical Group, and she focused on raising her daughters.
Diamond loved modern dance, sumi-e painting and meditation. She and several friends formed the Makeshift Mystery group that did improvisational dance and performances. She and Elmer became part of the Esalen Project for Humanistic Medicine and learned many alternative healing modalities, including massage, biofeedback and psychosynthesis. Diamond helped found the Institute for Humanistic Medicine which published several books and many papers that inspired new approaches to medical care and healing.
After Diamond and Elmer were divorced, she earned a master’s degree from the California Institute for Asian Studies (now the California Institute of Integral Studies) and became a licensed marriage and family therapist and helped lead the John F. Kennedy University’s counseling center. She served on the Board of Community Boards, an innovative conflict resolution service based in San Francisco. Her interest in spiritual practice led her to the Ridhwan School in Berkeley, where she eventually became a spiritual teacher. During this time, she lived in Berkeley, then moved to San Francisco, back to Berkeley and then to Albany.
During this time, her daughter Deena and husband Larry Tyrrell lived in Japan, then moved to Portland, Oregon. Their daughter Leia had been born in San Francisco one week before the Loma Prieta earthquake. Leia went to nursery school in Japan and then attended a Japanese immersion elementary school in Portland. Leia invited Diamond to move to Portland when she entered her senior year in high school.
Marianna left for college at the time Diamond moved to San Francisco. She lived on the East Coast and in Indiana, returning to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late ’80s. She married Arthur Keller, and they had twin daughters, Sophie and Reta. Diamond got training as a birth assistant in preparation for the births of all her granddaughters. She enjoyed loving them and watching them grow up.
While in Portland, Diamond was the Diamond Approach teacher for the Pacific Northwest, working with individuals and groups. She also became involved in the Transformational Voice Institute, founded by Linda Brice, lending her knowledge of embodied wisdom to the institute’s practices.
In 2013, Diamond moved to Rose Villa, a retirement community in Portland. She enjoyed making new friends, volunteering on the Rose Villa Foundation Board and tending her plot in the community garden with help from Deena. She relished harvesting chard and other produce and sharing it with others at the community garden market. She participated in a Wholeness Group and lent her wisdom as an elder. She loved performing with her friend Joanne McClarty, accompanying Joanne’s tap dancing with her voice and drum. She loved learning, exploring and sharing new ideas. She sought purpose throughout her life.
Diamond will be missed by her children — Deena (Larry Tyrrell) and Marianna; and grandchildren — Leia (Aaron Goettig), Sophie and Reta, as well as by her extended family and friends. Her memory is a blessing.
A celebration of life will be planned for October 2025. Donations may be made to the Columbia Riverkeeper, the ACLU or other charities of your choice.
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