Jane Evans Sheer, 59, prominent Paradise Valley businesswoman and devoted wife and mother, died of a sudden illness in a Buenos Aires hospital while traveling in Argentina on the morning of November 16, 2003.

A nationally recognized executive in the retail, consumer marketing, investment banking, IT and telecommunications sectors, Jane was a champion of women’s and minorities’ rights in the workplace, and campaigned tirelessly to promote equality and diversity in the business arena.

Born in 1944 in Hannibal, Missouri to a family of five, she went on to graduate from Vanderbilt University and studied French at L’ Universite d’Aix-en-Provence in southern France. Her professional career began in New York with the I. Miller Company as an executive trainee and she quickly rose through the ranks to become its president at the age of 26.

Jane’s stellar career continued with high-ranking executive positions at such companies as Butterick-Vogue, Fingerhut, General Mills, Monet Jewelry, and U.S. West and was most recently involved with three entrepreneurial ventures in the Valley. She likewise served as a director on the corporate boards of several multinational conglomerates, including Philip Morris/Altria, Georgia Pacific, The Equitable Insurance Company, Bank One Arizona, Hypercom Corporation, Mainstreet, PetsMart, and Kaufman-Broad Home. She also sat on the Vanderbilt University Board of Trustees and served as a former president of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association, and was a director of the LPGA and a past chairwoman of the international chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization as well as an active member of the World Presidents’ Organization and Chief Executives’ Organization.

Despite her amazing professional success and incredibly busy schedule, she always somehow managed to balance her work commitments with her private life and she was the best mother and wife a son or husband could ever wish for. Jane’s indomitable optimism, “can-do” determination and pioneering spirit served as a tremendous inspiration to everyone she ever met and she will be most dearly missed.

She is survived by her husband, George Sheer and son Jonathan; her mother, Kay Evans Pierce; her sister, Judy Thompson; her brother, Jim Evans; and several nephews and nieces. While no funeral services are planned, a celebration of her amazing and unique life is scheduled to be held in January in Phoenix. Donations may be made to Homeward Bound, Phoenix, AZ.