An Ironic Feb. 17

So today is Feb. 17, 2009, the original deadline for the digital television transition to take place.

No, this is not another rant about switching the date to June.

This is a personal note for a few people in the industry who have either covered the development of digital TV in the U.S. or have worked long and hard to make this technology a success.

As this year’s Feb. 17 drew near, I knew it was important for more than just the DTV deadline. Then I realized over the weekend that today marks the date just two short years ago we received the tragic news that one of the industry’s leading public relations execs who worked for and with CEA to publicize digital TV for two decades, Cynthia Upson, died of lung cancer at the age of 49.

Knowing Cynthia’s sense of humor, as many of us did, she would have laughed at the irony.

To her family, our condolences on this painful anniversary, and for those of you who didn’t know Cynthia, click here to read a little more about the contributions she made to this industry and what her friends and colleagues thought of her.