When I had the opportunity to interview legendary record producer Quincy Jones in 2012, I asked him how he wanted to one day be remembered when the time came. He answered with what he said he wants written on his tombstone:

“Born 1933. Died 2043,” he said with a laugh.

Jones was making his once regular annual visit to Denver for a fashion gala that now raises more than $2 million a year for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, which was founded in 2006 by Denver cable TV pioneer John Sie and his late wife, Anna, when their granddaughter was born with Down syndrome.

“I met John as the king of TV,” Jones said. “He’s the man who created the technology for cable TV and high definition.”

Sie, the founder of Starz Entertainment Group and namesake of the Sie FilmCenter, called Sunday “a sad morning for his foundation, and for the world.” Jones did not make it to 110. He died at 91 at his home in Los Angeles.

“Quincy lived an enormous life and gave back to this world with all his heart,” Sie told The Denver Gazette. “Anna and I were lucky to have been part of his extended family for more than 40 years. We met through the cable TV industry and became fast friends. ‘Brothers from another mother,’ as he used to say.”

Jones will be remembered forever for his 28 Grammy Awards and collaborations with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson. But for Sie, it’s far more personal.

“When my daughter, Michelle, and her husband, Tom, had their first child, Sophia, they didn’t know what it was going to mean when they received the diagnosis of Down syndrome. Interestingly, it was Quincy, right from the get-go, who told us that she was a gift and the good she could do in this world was unlimited.”

In my interview with Jones, he said “Kids with Down syndrome are the smartest kids I have ever seen. They are smart, bright and very emotional. It’s just Chromosome 21. That’s not their fault.”

When Jones learned that Down syndrome was the least-funded genetic condition by the U.S. federal government, Sie said, he was all in.

“He knew we could change that,” Sie said, “and he gave us the honor of creating an award in his name – the Quincy Jones Exceptional Advocacy Award – which he bestowed upon exceptional self-advocates and celebrities who were going above and beyond for people who were differently-abled.” The award has been received by Jamie Foxx, DeOndra Dixon, Colin Farrell, Zack Gottsagen, Eva Longoria, Jamie Brewer and others.

Woody Harrelson and Sofia Sanchez are scheduled to receive the 2024 Jones Award at the Nov. 16 “Be Beautiful Be Yourself” fashion show at the Denver Sheraton. “It will no doubt be hard not to cry during the finale,” Sie said, “which is always accompanied by Quincy’s song, ‘We are the World.’”

Sie’s daughter, Sie’s daughter, GLOBAL President and CEO Michelle Sie Whitten, said Jones was “a brilliant strategist helping me and my parents plan our approach to federal Down syndrome funding – but he was also such a talent and joy who loved to be in the moment.”

Jones told me that he always had a soft spot for kids in trouble, which stemmed from his own upbringing without a mother on the mean streets of Chicago during the Great Depression.

Jones, Sie added, often spoke about Sophia and other children with Down syndrome with conviction, saying: “These children aren’t broken. They just need a leg up; the chance to reach their God-given potential.”

I asked Jones if, as a young boy, he ever felt the larger world would ever be fully available to him. “Not a chance,” he said. “How could you? When I was growing up, I wanted to be a gangster. My dad used to build the houses for The Jones Boys, which was a notorious Chicago gang. I saw dead bodies every day and Tommy guns.

“One night, we broke into our recreation center, which was an armory. We were 11 years old. After we ate a pie and some ice cream, I broke into another room and saw a splintered piano. I walked out, but when I left, something told me to go back in there. I touched that piano with one finger and I knew I would be doing music for the rest of my life. I felt it in every cell in my body.”

Jones, Sie said, grew into the rare man “who made everyone feel loved and valued. He brought a certain amount of magic to everything he touched and to each event he attended. And to our family and the Down syndrome community, he was a hero.”

Jones produced “Thriller,” the greatest selling album in history but, when asked his greatest accomplishment, his answer had nothing to do with the music industry.

“In 1999, we had a 25-minute meeting with Pope Paul at the Castel Gandolfo, which is the summer Vatican,” he said. “Because of that meeting, we got $27.5 billion in debt relief for Mozambique, Bolivia and the Ivory Coast. And we used that to send 20 million kids to school. I’ll never forget that.”

Sie said he and his family “are heartbroken to lose this treasure of a human, but we also feel blessed to have known him. He leaves behind a storied career, the most amazing children and friends, and he will be forever loved and remembered.”