{"id":3143,"date":"2026-06-27T13:35:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T13:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3143"},"modified":"2026-06-27T13:35:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T13:35:53","slug":"community-leaders-give-heartfelt-farewell-to-rod-diridon-sr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3143","title":{"rendered":"Community leaders give heartfelt farewell to Rod Diridon Sr."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hundreds of people showed up Thursday afternoon at the San Jose Civic Auditorium to give a heartfelt farewell to Rod Diridon Sr., the \u201cfather of modern transit\u201d in Silicon Valley, who died in April at age 87.<\/p>\n

Read more Auction of Charles Shaw\u2019s former Napa Valley winery estate ends at $9 million opening bid price<\/a><\/p>\n

The high-powered list of speakers \u2014 including video messages from U.S. Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Nancy Pelosi \u2014 shared some common themes: Diridon was a \u201cdoer\u201d and someone who stuck to his beliefs, but he was also someone who encouraged others to follow in his footsteps. That generation of new leaders, even more than the downtown train station named for him, likely will be his most-lasting legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cRod was so focused on bringing up the next generation of leaders,\u201d said Santa Clara Valley Water District Director Shiloh Ballard, one of the legion of candidates Diridon supported for office. \u201cEspecially later on in life, he knew it was no longer his role to be sitting at the table as a leader but instead to vacate that chair, pull it out and invite someone like me to sit in it. And to insist someone like me sit in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was far from alone. Speaker after speaker \u2014 including San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Santa Clara County Supervisors Susan Ellenberg and Otto Lee, San Jose Councilmember Michael Mulcahy, Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens \u2014 talked about those sit-downs with Diridon, the regular emails from him, the advice-filled lunches about taking care of not just the community but home life, too.<\/p>\n

The memorial had poignant moments. The honor guard from the Santa Clara County Fire Department reverently carried Diridon\u2019s ashes in two containers: a lantern emblazoned with his initials that he had used in his youth working on the railroad and a ceramic jar made by his wife, Gloria Duffy.<\/p>\n

There were lighter moments, too, including Duffy opening and closing the tribute by blowing a train whistle to get everyone\u2019s attention. And many speakers recalled, mostly fondly, the nicknames Diridon bestowed on them like \u201cSparky,\u201d \u201cSweetheart\u201d and \u201cLittle Boss.\u201d (Diridon conferred honorary Italian status on me by always calling me \u201cSalvatore,\u201d with an accent on the \u201ce.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Lee, a retired commander in the U.S. Navy, recalled that Diridon would always salute him because his highest naval rank had been lieutenant junior grade. \u201cThe truth is Rod outranked me in every way that matters,\u201d said Lee, who wore his dress uniform to the ceremony to deliver one final salute to his mentor, \u201cfrom one sailor to another.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the ceremony, another honor detail from the U.S. Navy presented Duffy with an American flag in honor of Diridon\u2019s service. A string quartet from Symphony San Jose, of which Diridon was a lifetime supporter, played the Navy Hymn to close.<\/p>\n

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Mahan called Diridon one of the chief builders of San Jose\u2019s \u201ccivic backbone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a special kind of optimism to believe in your neighbors, your colleagues and even your rivals the way that Rod did,\u201d Mahan said. \u201cSeeing all the people here today whose lives Rod touched, I know that his faith was well placed. His impact, his optimism, his faith in people rippled out to city halls, classrooms, community organizations and neighborhoods across our region through each and every one of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

ROLLING IN THE MONEY?:<\/strong> Earlier this month, Jeremy Shapiro led the \u201cTour de Trillion,\u201d a 60-mile, one-day bike ride to visit the Silicon Valley companies that are worth at least $1 trillion.<\/p>\n

Read more Aiming to boost government efficiency, San Jose trains its 1,000th worker on AI tools<\/a><\/p>\n

Inspired by a similar driving tour Derek Cheng wrote about for the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, Shapiro\u2019s ride started in San Jose and went past Broadcom, Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Tesla and Apple. This was, of course, before SpaceX joined the trillion-dollar club with its recent IPO.<\/p>\n

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Shapiro, an author and self-described serial entrepreneur, noted the companies comprise around a third of the value of the entire stock market and contribute to California having the highest GGP of any state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese companies are one of the many things that makes Silicon Valley so special,\u201d Shapiro wrote in his blog. \u201cCruising back home, I couldn\u2019t help but reflect on the sheer scale of innovation packed into such a small valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can check out his post on the ride and see a map of the route at jeremyshapiro.com.<\/p>\n

SOUNDS OF SUMMER:<\/strong> This Sunday will mark the 25th summer that the Kiwanis Club of Willow Glen has been providing beautiful music with the Music in the Glen series. The series, which started on Thursday nights at Willow Glen Elementary, moved to Frank Bramhall Willow Street Park on Sunday afternoons.<\/p>\n

The six-week series kicks off with the Cisco Kid this Sunday, followed by the RPM band (July 5), Big Mike and the HartBeats (July 12), Long Train Runnin\u2019 (July 19), the Houserockers (July 26) and the Iconics (Aug. 6). The music starts at 4 p.m. every week.<\/p>\n

THE PATRIOTIC ACCORDION:<\/strong> The Fourth of July was a little more fun in Cupertino last year thanks to Joe Domitrowich, \u201cThe Capricious Accordion,\u201d who put on a spontaneous performance of patriotic music from his driveway on Cottonwood Drive to accompany the city\u2019s fireworks display.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople stopped to listen, neighbors came over to chat, some danced in the driveway, others had played accordion earlier in their lives and others were just curious about the instrument,\u201d said Domitrowich, whose live accordion was enhanced by digital technology to recreate the sound of entire ensemble. \u201cIt turned an ordinary neighborhood street into a gathering place.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll repeat the performance this year in honor of the nation\u2019s 250th birthday, and he hopes to make it an annual neighborhood tradition after that.<\/p>\n

Read more Sharks takeaways from NHL draft: Mike Grier, scouts put on a masterclass<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of people attended the celebration of life for “father of modern transit” in Silicon Valley at the San Jose Civic Auditorium on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCommunity leaders give heartfelt farewell to Rod Diridon Sr. - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3143\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Community leaders give heartfelt farewell to Rod Diridon Sr. - 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