Margaret Englett:  

Life Popular KYW-TV newswoman Siani Lee (Margaret Englett) died in a car accident in Chester County, Pa, near Philadelphia on 10/28/2001. Lee was an Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist for KYW-TV (Channel 3) in Philadelphia since 1999, where she co-anchored with Larry Kane on Eyewitness News at 6 p.m. and was the featured reporter for the consumer series Eye on Money. She was also an accomplished vocalist, a humanitarian and friend loved by many. Lee was the first Asian Pacific Islander American anchor in Philadelphia and an active member of the Asian American Journalists Association. She served as the Philadelphia chapter president in 1999. In the eight years that she had made Philadelphia her home; she was such an admired on-air personality that many viewers expressed their affection by naming their daughters after her. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, everyone from a janitor at the Park Hyatt Hotel to a South Jersey couple who adopted a Chinese orphan, named their daughters “Siani.” On the day that she died, Siani was just leaving the site of the new house she was having built [for her mother]” A gifted singer, Siani’s love of music and ease in the spotlight was evident early on, according to her brother. She sang in church and played the piano and the flute. After graduating from high school, Siani toured with her Top 40 cover band singing at nightclubs in Virginia Beach, Hampton, VA, Newport News and the Pocono’s. Her voice was her meal ticket and how she paid her way through college. She took a year off from school to try to make it as a musician and a vocalist. In the early 1980s, she even sang at Carnegie Hall. A career in broadcast journalism, however, was waiting in the wings. She earned her BA in Mass Media Communications and Journalism in 1985 at Hampton University. Lee’s first job in broadcasting was in 1987 as an associate producer at WTKR-TV in Norfolk, Va. Her next stops included WTOC-TV in Savannah, Ga., where she worked as an anchor, reporter and producer and WMAR-TV in Baltimore, Md., before her two year stint as an anchor in Washington, D.C. at NEWSCHANNEL 8. Lee never forgot her roots. While at NEWSCHANNEL 8, Lee received the prestigious Dateline award from the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for her investigative coverage on race relations between the Korean and African American communities. She moved on to WCAU-TV (Channel 10) in Philad...Expand for more