Anna Maria Sie lived the last word American dream.
Collectively, for 56 years, she and her husband, John J. Sie, each immigrants to the U.S., constructed a household in Colorado throughout his profitable profession in cable tv.
Over the past 20 years, she turned referred to as a beneficiant philanthropist in Denver’s arts, movie and tutorial areas, and she or he constructed a legacy of labor funding Down syndrome analysis.
“She’s type and compassionate and supportive,” John Sie stated. “A champion to these in want.”
Anna Sie died Sept. 20 at her dwelling surrounded by her household. She was 78 years outdated.
She was identified with endometrial most cancers almost a decade in the past in December 2013.
Anna Sie immigrated from Naples, Italy, by ship along with her father and two older brothers in 1955 and John Sie got here from China 5 years earlier than her.
For a number of years, whereas her household within the U.S. saved cash to ship for her mom, older sister and two youthful brothers nonetheless in Italy, Anna Sie cooked, cleaned and have become a translator for the household.
She was a switchboard operator when she met her husband, and thru John Sie’s career-building, Anna Sie was the fixed “guiding mild” for the household.
After the 2 married, John Sie throughout his profession helped construct Showtime by Telecommunication Inc. and based the Starz and Encore channels, but it surely was Anna Sie who impressed his entrepreneurship in tv.
“It was her love of movie that actually guided me by my profession,” John Sie stated. “For the final 56 years, she immeasurably contributed to the welfare of all she touched. I’m without end grateful for these treasured years.”
It was that work ethic and her energy and compassion that impressed her giant household.
Along with her husband, she is survived by 5 youngsters: Susan Sie, Dr. Debbie Sie (Justin Hoffman), James Sie (Doug Wooden), Michelle Sie Whitten (Tom Whitten) and Allison Sie Hildestad (Orin Hildestad); six grandchildren: Ben Sie, Shaela Hoffman, Sophia and Patrick Whitten, Silas and Freyja Hildestad; 5 siblings, Sabatino Maglione, Rosa Del Tufo, Ciro Maglione, Tony Maglione, and Sal Maglione, and dozens of in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins.
“She’s my hero,” Sie Whitten stated. “We now have walked this path along with her for 10 years since she received identified. (She had) a lot grace within the face of loss of life yearly. She was so robust proper till the top.”
All through Anna Sie’s life in Denver, she was recognized for her generosity and kindness.
Because the movie lover her husband knew her as, Anna Sie, with John Sie, was a giant supporter of Denver’s movie scene, serving to set up the Sie FilmCenter at 2510 E. Colfax Ave., the one nonprofit impartial film home in metro Denver.
“The 2 of them noticed that as a necessity for our group to have a really impartial artwork home cinema. We’re so grateful for his or her contributions to make it occur,” Kevin Smith, CEO of Denver Movie, stated.
In 2008, Anna Sie created the Maria and Tommaso Maglione Italian Filmmaker Award inside the Denver Movie Competition to acknowledge the very best Italian language movies. Sie not solely funded the award, named after her film-buff mother and father, she additionally helped decide the competitors.
“She had an uncanny eye for recognizing expertise. She would undergo the method with us and watch a ton of movies and assist us choose,” Smith stated.
Smith stated the Sies channeled a few of the cash made by offering films on cable by way of the Starz channel again into strengthening Colorado’s cinema tradition. Their contributions will proceed for years to return by an endowment the couple created.
“For me, it was a type of serendipitous issues. I discover it fascinating that movie was such a passionate a part of all of it. While you take a look at her life, it might have been a film,” he stated.
Anna Sie’s love of movie prolonged to the couple’s help of Denver’s scene by establishing the Sie FilmCenter at 2510 E. Colfax Ave., the one nonprofit impartial film home in metro Denver.
“Anna was a sublime and gracious presence in all her interactions with the museum,” stated Christoph Heinrich, the Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Artwork Museum. “Alongside her husband, John, her boundless generosity and enthusiasm for being a welcoming place for all could have a constructive impression in our neighborhood for generations to return.”
Moreover within the Colorado neighborhood, Anna endowed the Anna Maglione-Sie Chair in Italian Language and Literature on the College of Denver and the Dan and Boyce Sher Chair on the College of Colorado Boulder School of Music.
As impactful as her philanthropy has been to Denver’s arts and tutorial communities, it’s by her contributions to advance Down syndrome analysis her household and buddies stated she leaves the most important legacy.
“With out her, we wouldn’t have a few of the sources we now have in Denver,” Sharon Magness Blake, considered one of Anna Sie’s finest buddies, stated. “She made a huge effect.”
One in all Anna Sie’s granddaughters has Down syndrome, and, seeing the hole in tutorial analysis when the household began searching for sources, she set to work to repair that.
“She realized there was a void, so she, her husband and (Sie Whitten), all of them labored very onerous for 20 years advancing analysis and care,” Magness Blake stated.
The Anna and John J. Sie Basis in 2008 was the founding donor for the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, which is among the solely tutorial facilities absolutely devoted to Down syndrome analysis and is now the most important geographic cluster of Down syndrome researchers on this planet.
A yr later, the household based the GLOBAL Down Syndrome Basis nonprofit to additional help schooling and advocacy of Down Syndrome and moreover based the Alzheimer’s and Cognition Heart, Anna and John J. Sie Heart for Down Syndrome at Kids’s Hospital Colorado, and the pilot GLOBAL Grownup Down Syndrome Heart at Denver Well being.
“From my perspective, with that concept that each particular person counts, we might help lots of people if we set our minds to it,” stated Sie Whitten, who can also be the president and CEO of the GLOBAL Down Syndrome Basis. “She has been very protecting of (individuals with Down syndrome) by way of inclusion and discrimination, but additionally to ensure they will stay for much longer and more healthy lives.”
She additionally supplied the seed funding to start out the GLOBAL Inclusive Program, the primary post-secondary program for college kids with mental disabilities at a Jesuit College and the second at a Catholic College within the U.S.
On high of Sie’s devotion to her household and her philanthropic work, she was one of the crucial reliable buddies somebody might have, in response to Magness Blake.
“She was at all times there while you wanted somebody to speak to, and was very beneficiant along with her time,” Magness Blake stated. “She took being a good friend critically. She would do absolutely anything that can assist you. It was comforting to know there was someone on the market who would go to such lengths that can assist you.”
Magness Blake stated she is going to bear in mind her good friend as a tremendous girl with magnificence.
“She was a really regal, nice girl,” she stated. “One in all a sort. She would snort at my saying that, however she actually was.”
Companies for Anna Sie might be at 10 a.m., Thursday on the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, 1530 Logan St., in Denver.
In lieu of flowers, Anna requested that donations in her reminiscence be despatched to the International Down Syndrome Basis at www.globaldownsyndrome.org or mailed to 3239 E. 2nd Avenue, Denver, CO 80206.
Workers author Aldo Svaldi contributed to this story.
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