Fred M Rogers

He was born to James and Nancy Rogers in Latrobe PA. His father was a successful businessman who was president of the McFeely Brick Company, Rogers also had a sister, Elaine, whom the Rogers's adopted when he was 11 years old. Fred McFeely Rogers was married to Joanne Byrd in 1952. They had 2 children. He was an American television personality, musician, puppeteer, writer, producer, and Presbyterian minister. Rogers was famous for creating, hosting and composing the theme music for the educational preschool television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968–2001), which featured his kind-hearted grandfatherly personality, and direct connection to his audiences. Originally trained and ordained as a minister, Rogers was displeased with the way television addressed children at the time, and made an effort to change this when he began to write for and perform on local Pittsburgh-area shows dedicated to youth. Rogers developed his own show on WQED in 1968, and it was distributed nationwide by Eastern Educational Television Network. Over the course of three decades on television, Rogers became an icon of American children's entertainment and education. He was also known for his advocacy of various public causes. His testimony before a lower court in favor of fair-use recording of television shows to play at another time (now known as time shifting) was cited in a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Betamax case, and he gave now-famous testimony to a U.S. Senate committee, advocating government funding for children's television. Rogers received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 40 honorary degrees, and a Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, was recognized by two Congressional resolutions, and was ranked No. 35 among TV Guide's Fifty Greatest TV Stars of All Time. Several buildings and artworks in Pennsylvania are dedicated to his memory, and the Smithsonian Institution displays one of his trademark sweaters as a "Treasure of American History". On June 25, 2016, the Fred Rogers Historical Marker was placed near Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and was named and dedicated in his memory. He was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Pittsburgh, to James and Nancy Rogers; he had one sister, Elaine. Early in life, he spent much of his free time with his maternal grandfather, Fred McFeely, who had an interest in music. He would often sing along as his mother would play the piano, and he himself began playing at five. He obtained a pilot's license while still in high school. Rogers graduated from Latrobe High School (1946). He studied at Dartmouth College (1946–48), then transferred to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where he earned a B.A. in Music Composition in 1951. Rogers was also a trained general aviation pilot. At Rollins, he met Sara Joanne Byrd (born c. 1928), an Oakland, Florida, native; they married on June 9, 1952. They had two sons, James (b. 1959) and John (b. 1961). In 1963, Rogers graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was ordained a minister in the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Rogers had an apartment in New York City and a summer home on Nantucket island in Massachusetts. Rogers was red–green color blind, swam every morning, and neither smoked nor drank. He was a vegetarian on ethical grounds, stating "I don't want to eat anything that has a mother." Despite recurring rumors, he never served in the military. His office at WQED Pittsburgh famously did not have a desk, only a sofa and armchairs, because Rogers thought a desk was "too much of a barrier". Early work Fred Rogers had a life-changing moment when he first saw television in his parents' home. He entered seminary after college; but, after his first experience as a viewer, he wanted to explore the potential of the medium. In an interview with CNN in his later years, Rogers stated, "I went into television because I hated it so, and I thought there's some way of using this fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listen." He applied for a job at NBC in New York City in 1951 and then worked on musical programs including Your Hit Parade, The Kate Smith Hour, and The Voice of Firestone. He also worked on Gabby Hayes' show for children. Ultimately, Rogers decided that commercial television's reliance on advertisement and merchandising undermined its ability to educate or enrich young audiences, so he quit NBC. In 1954, he began working at WQED, a Pittsburgh public television station, as a puppeteer on the local children's show The Children's Corner. For the next seven years, he worked with host Josie Carey in unscripted live TV, developing many of the puppets, characters, and music used in his later work, such as King Friday XIII and X the Owl. Rogers began wearing his famous sneakers when he found them to be quieter than his work shoes as he moved about behind the set. He was also the voices of King Friday XIII and Queen Sara Saturday (named after his wife), rulers of the neighborhood; as well as X the Owl, Henrietta Pussycat, Daniel Stripèd Tiger, Lady Elaine Fairchilde, and Larry Horse. The show won a Sylvania Award[26] for best children's show and was briefly broadcast nationally on NBC. During his off hours, he would leave the WQED studios during his lunch breaks to study theology at the nearby Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Rogers, however, was not interested in preaching; and, after his ordination, he was specifically charged to continue his work with children's television. He had also done work at the University of Pittsburgh's program in Child Development and Child Care. In 1963, Rogers moved to Toronto, where he was contracted by CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) to develop his debut in front of the camera, the 15-minute children's program Mister Rogers,] which, though popular with children, ran for just three seasons. Many of his famous set pieces—Trolley, Eiffel Tower, the 'tree', and 'castle'—were created by CBC designers. While in Toronto, Rogers brought to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood his friend and understudy Ernie Coombs, who would go on to create Mr. Dressup, a very successful and long-running children's show on CBC, and similar in many ways. Mr. Dressup also used some of the songs that would be featured on Rogers' later program. Coombs was a puppeteer and voice actor on Misterogers. When Rogers returned to the United States, Coombs remained in Canada and was in the cast of the CBC's replacement for Misterogers, Butternut Square, on CBC TV between October 19, 1964, and February 10, 1967 and then starred in his own show, Mister Dressup (1967-1996). In 1966, Rogers acquired the rights to his program from the CBC and moved the show to WQED in Pittsburgh, where he had worked on The Children's Corner. He developed the new show for the Eastern Educational Network. Stations that carried the program were limited but did include educational stations in Boston; Washington, D.C.; and New York City. After returning to Pittsburgh, Rogers attended the Sixth Presbyterian Church in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Distribution of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood began on February 19, 1968. The following year, the show moved to PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). In 1971, Rogers formed Family Communications, Inc. (FCI), and the company established offices in the WQED building in Pittsburgh. Initially, the company served solely as the production arm of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, but it now develops and produces an array of children's programming and educational materials. Mister Rogers' Neighborhood A sweater worn by Rogers, on display in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History