Sitting in the passenger seat, Terry Wehe Ryan ’69 grabs the steering wheel and veers the car off to the side of a country road. Her husband, Rob Ryan ’69, has just broken the news that he’s firing her from their tech startup—so he can afford to keep another female employee on the payroll.
It’s a scene dramatic enough to be in a movie—which is exactly where it appears.
Titled The Man Who Saved the Internet with a Sunflower, the independent film depicts the personal and professional lives of the Cornellian couple (who remain happily together to this day, after 55 years of marriage)—focusing on the role Rob played in producing some of the Web’s early critical infrastructure.
“Think of the possibilities if people were better connected,” the actor portraying Rob tells his team in one scene. “They could work from home instead of going to an office; they could buy goods on their computer without having to drive all the way to the store.”
The drama—which is not yet available to stream but has played at numerous film festivals—begins its tale in 1983.
