Full Biography for Bodo Diehn

Candidate for
State Senator; District 26

Biographical Sketch

Bodo Diehn (pr. "Dean") first came to Arizona more than 30 years ago, when he served as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Arizona, after having received his degree as a Fulbright Scholar from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Embarking upon an academic career which during which he was promoted to a full professorship at the University of Toledo, one of the State Universities of Ohio, he also held appointments at the Medical College of Ohio at Toledo, and became an adjunct Professor of Zoology at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

Dr. Diehn concluded a distinguished career as a scientist (he conducted research mainly on the effect of environmental agents on the visual systems of simple organisms) when he accepted the position of Director of the newly established Legislative Science Office for the Michigan Legislature. Preceding that appointment, he had served as a Congressional Fellow of the American Chemical Society on the staff of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Finance, and of the U.S. Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences whose ranking minority member at the time was Senator Barry Goldwater.

His involvement with corporate business began when he moved to the University of Michigan to set up for it the Michigan Research Corporation, an entitity whose function is to evaluate faculty inventions and develop them for the marketplace, and to secure venture capital funding for the purpose.

He took advantage of an opportunity to return to Arizona in the mid-80's as a campaign consultant on technology and scientific issues, and upon completing that assignment Bodo Diehn entered state service with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. As an Environmental Health Specialist, he managed cases of industrial pollution incidents and supervised cleanup projects. A business career called, however, and he formed his own consulting company after three years with ADEQ. In this venture, he assists clients statewide in complying with environmental rules and permit conditions, and in pollution prevention efforts.

Bodo is in tune with and involved in cmmunity and state affairs. He is the President and CEO of the Sonoran Sustainable Resources Institute at Scottsdale Community College, and serves on many statewide and local task forcs and working groups such as the Scottsdale Environmental Quality Advisory Board.

He lives in south Scottsdale with his wife Martha, who is an attorney, and two sons, 11 and 13. He has been active in the Democratic Party and serves as elected Precinct Committeeman, State Committeeman, and as Treasurer of District 26. Among his interests are sports (he is an endurance athlete who regularly places or wins in his age group in footraces, duathlons, and triathlons) and flying on business in his small airplane; -- the very plane in which he took his pilot training in 1964, at the now long-defunct Tucson Downtown Airport.