Honoring the Legacy and 90TH Birthday of John J. Sie of Colorado

HON. DIANA DeGETTE

of colorado

in the house of representatives

Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a great American, a dear friend, and one of Colorado's most cherished citizens—John Sie, who is celebrating his 90th birthday.

John likes to say he lives by four C's: Curiosity, Connectivity, Comprehension, and Concentration. Those four C's are the story of his life—and what a life it has been.

Born in Nanjing in 1936, he survived Japanese occupation as a child,

fled Communist China on one of the last boats out of Shanghai, and arrived in the United States with his family at age 14, speaking no English. His first American home was a Catholic orphanage on Staten Island. He arrived with nothing but curiosity, a Chinese-English dictionary, and a fierce determination to make something of himself. He went from struggling student to top of his class, earning a full scholarship to Manhattan College and later a master's degree in electrical engineering.

He would go on to change American television forever. As an executive at the cable giant TeleCommunications, Inc. (TCI), John saw what others could not—that America's future was digital, at a moment when the entire industry was ready to follow Japan into an analog world. He was laughed out of the room. He went to Congress and the FCC week after week until on the final day of the standard-setting process, the only all-digital standard came through. Every high-definition television in America today is a testament to his conviction. Later, when HBO passed on his idea for a new movie channel, he asked TCI for $5 million and a chance. That bet became Starz. And throughout his career, he has championed independent film—ensuring that the stories others overlooked found the audiences they deserved, including through Denver's own Sie Film Center, a cherished home for the Denver Film Festival.

John Sie has given back to this country with the same intensity with

which he built it. When their granddaughter Sophia was born with Down syndrome, he and his beloved wife, Anna, encountered a broken system. Rather than accept it, they built something better. As founding donors of the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, the first academic home for Down syndrome research in the United States, and founders of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, they have transformed what it means to receive a Down syndrome diagnosis.

That same devotion to a better world led John and Anna to invest in

Colorado's future—including a new building at the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs, where the next generation of American diplomats are being trained. For a man who survived occupation, fled revolution, and built a life from nothing, there is no more fitting legacy than shaping how this country engages the world.

When asked what it means to be American, John said simply: “If you work hard, you overcome difficulties, you succeed. The American dream truly exists.” Then, with characteristic humility, he added: `'I am the example.”

I wish a happy 90th birthday to John. Our country and our state are better because of him.