Francyne Leontios Diedrich

Francyne Leontios Diedrich, 77, passed away on Sunday, March 26, 2017. As a first-generation Greek-American, Fran fiercely loved both her Greek heritage and America. She believed in, and instilled in her three daughters and three grandchildren, the virtues of education, self-sufficiency, and hard work. Her eldest daughter, Dawn Diedrich, an attorney and agent with a Georgia state law enforcement agency, likes to tell people that the way her mother raised her children is reflected in the words: “go to school and you’ll feel better.” Fran studied Child Development at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a member of the American Association of University Women. A life-long lover of reading, she managed the Reading Is Fundamental program for the Atlanta Public Schools for several years.

Fran was also a very talented cook and host. When her middle daughter, Lisa Diedrich, a professor in New York, asked her one important thing she had learned from her own mother, Fran said without missing a beat, “How to entertain.” Though she passed these skills on, none of her daughters could match her abilities in the kitchen. She created a cookbook of the Greek recipes she had learned from her mother as a gift for her daughters and grandchildren, and shared countless other recipes that always tasted best when she made them.

Fran was also a successful businesswoman and the first woman vice president at a major executive recruiting firm in Atlanta. At work and home, she demonstrated a no-nonsense approach to getting things done and carrying on. Her youngest daughter, Andrea Diedrich Kumar, a neurologist in Charlotte who took care of her until the end, witnessed her courage and determination to remain independent throughout her life.

She requested that her body be donated for research to the Wake Forest School of Medicine Whole Body Anatomical Bequeathal Program for use in medical education, training, or research studies. In lieu of flowers, and because she was a strong supporter of our veterans, the family asks that donations be made in her name to the Wounded Warriors Project.

Fran is survived by her three daughters; her grandchildren: Nikhil Alexander Kumar, a senior at Brown University, Sona Christina Kumar, a senior at Swarthmore College, and Jack Boyette, a freshman at Berry College; Jack’s father, Tom Boyette; Lisa’s partner, Victoria Hesford; Andrea’s husband, Vikram Kumar; and her sisters: Athena Jameson, Chris Xerogianes, Jean Leontios, and Betty Leontios.

A private service for the family will be held in Harry & Bryant’s “Chapel in the Oaks”.