Friday, August 6, 1999
Robert Vanden Sias
MISSOULA - Robert Vanden Sias, well-known business man in Missoula for more than 40 years, died Thursday, Aug. 5, of kidney failure at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula.
Mr. Sias was president of W.A. Simons Co. of Missoula which was the longtime owner of the Wilma building and the Wilma theaters. The company now operates the Roxy and Go West Theaters.
Mr. Sias was born in January 1921 in Chinook. He was the son of D. J. Sias, a prominent attorney and county attorney. His mother, Margaret Vanden Sias, was a county superintendent of schools. His parents homesteaded near Chinook.
Mr. Sias said he fell in love with the movies as a young boy when the first silents came to Chinook. He sat on the piano bench next to his mother, who volunteered to improvise piano accompaniments to the new cultural phenomenon.
An accomplished violinist, Sias was concertmaster of the High School Montana All-State Orchestra. He played leading roles during three seasons of summer stock at the Yellow Springs (Ohio) Summer Theater.
Mr. Sias graduated from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 1943. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he began his journalism career at a major advertising agency in New York, where he earned a national award for his work. Mr. Sias later worked for The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner and The New York Times.
Mr. Sias returned to the University of Montana to pursue graduate work in creative writing. During that time he wrote movie reviews for the Missoulian.
Mr. Sias is survived by a sister, Betty Ann Sias Scott of Spokane; two nieces, Susan Sias Waugh of St. Louis and Margaret Ann Scott Bronder of Whitefish; three nephews, Stephen Sias Waugh of Yarmouth Port, Mass., Alan Sias Waugh of Eden Prairie, Minn., and Byron Scott of Rochester, Minn.; three grandnieces; three grandnephews; and one great-grandniece.
Burial will be private.
