November 29th, 2009 by

Whenever Dede Wilsey begins a philanthropic project she imagines a Monopoly board in her head of possible naming opportunities and donations with the Park Place and Pacific Avenue all in mind. However, the Park Place has been taken over by a hospital wing now. She believes that the reason behind her success has always been positive thinking and her pink post it notes. Dede Wilsey kept this approach in mind when she was serving as the chair of the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco having the responsibility of raising money to re-construct the de Young Museum in 2005. She worked on this project to make it a success day and night with continuous energy, hard work and dedication for ten years never once backing down or giving up on her hard struggle.

Dede Wilsey put all her efforts in to this project when she started it back in 1995 raising $208 million from more than 7,000 donors completing the largest privately funded project and gift given to the city of San Francisco. She took on the job of designing the museum on her own working with the architects side by side every step of the way.