Sami A. Miro passed away peacefully on August 2, 2026, at the age of 79, surrounded by two dozen family members which, for a man who spent his life bringing people together, supporting those he loved, and rarely doing anything halfway, seems entirely appropriate.

Sami was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 15, 1946, to Karim and Mary Miro. One of eight children, he grew up during Lebanon’s golden years of peace, speaking Arabic, French, and English and enjoying a childhood swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. His younger years were filled with family, Boy Scout jamborees, and fruit picked straight from the local trees. Sami liked to tell the story about pressing olive oil from the olives he had picked days earlier.

After graduating from International College (IC) High School, Sami left Lebanon at just 18 years old, believing he could create a better future in America. As anyone who knew Sami would later learn, once he made up his mind about something, he made it happen.

He arrived in Boulder, Colorado in 1967 and attended the University of Colorado, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees in structural engineering. Colorado would become his home, the foundation of his career, the place he raised his family, and of course where the Denver Broncos became a permanent part of Sundays in the Miro household.

In 1971, Sami met the love of his life, Mary Ann, on a blind date. Whoever arranged that date knew what they were doing. Sami and Mary Ann married in 1972 at Christ the King Church in Denver and went on to share 54 extraordinary years of marriage, adventure, laughter, and fun.

They welcomed their first son, Michael Karim, in August 1975, followed by Christopher in December 1976.

In 1979, Sami and Mary Ann took a leap of faith and moved their young family to Dublin, Ireland, where Sami helped run an engineering company. The move launched what would become a lifetime of travel and adventure. Sami loved seeing the world, but Ireland also gave him time to contemplate what would come next.

In July 1980, he founded S. A. Miro, Inc. What began as Sami's vision grew into a structural and civil engineering firm responsible for countless projects throughout Colorado's Front Range, across the United States, and overseas.

Of those many projects, Sami was especially proud of the Landside Terminal at Denver International Airport (he was not responsible for the Blue Horse), Children's Hospital, Ocean Journey, the Convention Center Hotel, Denver Central Library, and numerous buildings on the campus of his beloved alma mater, the University of Colorado Boulder. Sko Buffs!

Structural engineering was a natural fit for Sami. His legacy was creating a company, friendships, a family, traditions, and a life that became considerably larger than the 18 year-old kid leaving Beirut could have imagined.

Sami's greatest gift may have been his ability to make people laugh. He possessed a spontaneous sense of humor and could turn an ordinary conversation into laughter. People smiled around Sami. His warmth, approachability, optimism, and mischievous wit made people feel comfortable, and laughter usually wasn't far behind.

His middle name Karim means generous in Arabic. Sami believed deeply in giving back and was always willing to support a family member, friend, employee, or someone who simply needed a hand. He worked hard, enjoyed his success, and took genuine pleasure in sharing it with others.

Sami was curious about nearly everything and it was hard for him to still for very long.

For more than 25 years, he practiced Transcendental Meditation, which provided a degree of calm and grounding to a man whose natural operating speed was considerably faster.

He was a passionate gardener who spent countless hours tending the flowers in his backyard. When he wasn't smelling the roses, he was decanting wine from his notable cellar. When he wasn't decanting the wine, he was pumping up the tires on his road bike.

Sami became an accomplished cyclist, completing the MS 150, Ride the Rockies, and the Triple Bypass. He was also an avid skier and particularly loved the slopes of Vail's Game Creek Bowl.

He was a mainstay at Greenwood Athletic Club for decades and, at age 50, was proud to bench press 300 pounds.

He loved taking his family and grandchildren to Mexico each year for fun in the sun and treasured the many trips he shared with Mary Ann, his children, and later his grandchildren. Sami worked hard so he could play hard, and he was remarkably accomplished at both.

He also played the piano. During his 40s and 50s, Sami played nearly every day and took weekly lessons. Among the songs he enjoyed playing was John Lennon's "Imagine." Music became another way for Sami to slow down, enjoy the moment, and occasionally demonstrate that structural engineers could, in fact, have rhythm.

And then there were the Broncos.

Sami and his family bled orange and blue through thick and thin and there was plenty of both. A Denver Broncos season ticket holder since 1992, Sami tried to attend every game he could, remaining loyal from the days of John Elway all the way to Bo Nix.

A classic day in the life of Sami Miro might have included winning a major contract at work, offering his sons some well-timed advice and encouragement, bench pressing with his personal trainer in the afternoon, walking the High Line Canal in the early evening, and then settling in over dinner with a beautiful bottle of Brunello.

For Sami, that wasn't an especially good day.

That was Tuesday.

His favorite tune was Frank Sinatra's "My Way," and few songs could have described him better. Sami lived decisively and enthusiastically. He trusted his instincts, made decisions quickly, loved generously, laughed frequently, and moved through life with a remarkable combination of confidence, warmth, humor, and finesse.

He built buildings. He built a business. He built a wine cellar that could probably have survived a small siege. But most importantly, he built a family and a lifetime of relationships with people who knew they mattered to him.

Sami is survived by his beloved wife of 54 years, Mary Ann; his sons, Mike and Chris; his daughter-in-law, Wilma; and his grandchildren, Joey Karim (16), Sophia (15), Lara (14), Stanley Sami (13), and Saige (8). He is also survived by his sisters Selwa, Samia, and Samira, and his brothers Ibrahim and Michel.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Karim and Mary, and his brothers Dominic and Pierre.

Sami came to America at 18 believing he could build a remarkable life.

He did.

He loved his family fiercely, traveled the world, built a respected company, designed structures that will stand for generations, tended his flowers, biked mountains, skied Colorado, played the piano, cheered for the Broncos, helped people who needed him, made countless friends laugh, and accumulated enough wine to get invited to every party in Denver.

And through it all, he did exactly what Sinatra suggested.

He did it his way.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Rocky Mountain MS Center at www.mscenter.org/donation.