By Glory Weisberg
John and Anna Sie
The May 27 Mizel Museum’s 2010 Community Cultural Enrichment Award benefit honored Anna and John Sie and likely set a new attendance record for Denver area nonprofit events, bringing together almost 2,000 people.
Even for the massive Wings Over the Rockies it was amazing to see, the entire open space filled to capacity with excitement oozing from every conversation.
The Sies were our Villagers of the Year for 2008, then noted to be the very embodiment of the American dream, coming to our shores with hope and business acumen and hearts as big as the Statue of Liberty. In 2003, John Sie was inducted into the Cable Television Hall of Fame, having founded Starz Entertainment Group, now owned by Liberty Media, the parent of 13 premium movie networks that includes Encore as well.
John Sie came to the U.S. from China at age 14, living first at a Catholic orphanage. He went on to attain several graduate degrees and co-founded a Raytheon subsidiary, RCA Defense Electronics. Other achievements followed and Sie is considered by many as the father of digital TV.
Anna Sie is a native of Italy, being the first of her family to come to the U.S., later bringing her family to our shores. Fast forward to the Sie family as the couple raised five children.
Sophia Whitten is one of the couple’s grandchildren and she was born with Down syndrome. Not content to sit and watch beautiful Sophie’s life take a traditional path of limited accomplishments, the Sies made a $34 million donation to the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Its mission: To find ways for people like Sophia to achieve meaningful jobs, marry and live independently.
Jerry and Terry Rubin and Tom and Michele Whitten
Since that Villager of the Year story ran it’s become obvious that Sophie has an incredible charm and much more will come to her as she grows up.
The Anna and John J. Sie Foundation started the University of Denver Sie Cheou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy and the foundation also supports the Denver School of Science and Technology. A quick tap into the Internet details more of their philanthropy.
Larry Mizel established the Mizel Museum, which now includes the Babi Yar Park project, a memorial to Holocaust victims and world terrorism. The Sies have donated more than $100,000 to it and Mr. Mizel told the couple they were a “yin and yang of philanthropic work and (have) unequaled passion for our community.”
The third facility under the Mizel umbrella is the Center for Embowered Living and Learning, The CELL. When Larry speaks about the museum his voice can be overcome with emotion, so strong is his ambition and dedication to what he believes in.
Larry Mizel
And there you have the reasons that every year this dinner is a magnet for politicians, physicians and community leaders. Among the most respected is Arlene Hirschfeld who co-emceed the dinner with Dick Robinson. Also well known for decades is Sheldon Steinhauser who recited “A Blessing for Us,” a moving and stunning invocation.
When Larry Mizel contacted John Elway and asked for his help, Elway said sure, he’d give a $25,000 donation for a table but what Mizel really wanted was to have John accept an award from the Department of Homeland Security and as he did, the massive museum lit up with camera flashes bouncing off the plaque.
Among the luminaries at the dinner were former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Colorado Gov. John Ritter.
The Mizel Museum hosted 78,000 visitors last year and to better understand what its three sites are all about, go visit each of them. Start by visiting www.mizelmuseum.org or calling 303-394-9993.
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