Sidney Pike

He was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 6, 1927. At a young age, Sidney knew he wanted a career outside of his father’s Kosher butcher shop. He got his start in television directing baseball for the Boston Braves and moved his family to Atlanta in the 1960s to explore a business opportunity in the nascent television industry. A businessman with an adventurous spirit, Sidney spent his career connecting countries around the world through the power of news and television in his work building CNN International. For Sidney, international news was a gateway to peace – “how could you want to fight someone you see on television in your living room every night?”

Family was the center of his universe, and he taught his children and grandchildren many life lessons – chief among them to never be too serious to laugh, especially at yourself, and just how much can be accomplished through perseverance. Everyone who met Sidney knew that he loved his family, good food, a good laugh, and a good Western movie. Those who saw him around his grandkids met his playful side and watched him prove (by outpacing family members decades his junior) that age is truly nothing but a number. His kindness and deep sense of chivalry shone brightly even through his recent dementia.

Sidney was predeceased by his parents Albert and Anna Pike, his brothers Lenny and Harvey Pike, his wife Lillian Pike, his daughter Susan Pike, and his longtime partner Barbara Greenblatt. He is lovingly remembered and greatly missed by his children Steven (Patti) and Andrea (Larry); his grandchildren Sarah, Scott (Kayla), Julia (Emily), and Alyson (Elliot); his great-granddaughter Sophia; and many other family members in Brazil and Massachusetts. Towards the end of his life, Sidney often joked, danced, and laughed with his caregivers, teasing them in Yiddish and always confirming they’d had enough to eat. The family is endlessly indebted to Claudine James, Bintou Jaiteh, Joy Browne, and all the caregivers at Kaden for the loving care they gave to Sidney and our family in recent years.

Graveside funeral services will be held at 11:00 am on Friday, November 18 at Arlington Memorial Park (404-255-0750). Shiva will be held from 2:00–5:00 pm at Sidney Pike’s house in Atlanta. For more information, please call Julia Merlin at (770) 712-5556. Masks are required for both the funeral services and the Shiva.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages memorial donations to Dementia Society of America. Baruch dayan emet (ברוך דיין אמת). May his memory be a blessing.

If you would like to learn more about Sidney’s incredible career, his perspective and techniques are memorialized in his book “We Changed the World: Memoirs of a CNN Satellite Pioneer,” and his work papers are preserved at the University of Georgia Special Collections Library.