[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 63 (Thursday, April 9, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING THE LEGACY AND 90TH BIRTHDAY OF JOHN J. SIE OF COLORADO

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                           HON. DIANA DeGETTE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 9, 2026

  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.

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