Fred McFeely Rogers (March
20, 1928 – February 27, 2003) 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 directness to
his audiences.
Initially educated to be a minister, Rogers was displeased with
the way television addressed children and made an effort to change this when he
began to write for and perform on local Pittsburgh-area
shows dedicated to youth. WQED developed his own show in 1968 and it was
distributed nationwide by Eastern Educational Television Network.
Over the course of three decades on television, Fred 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, some forty
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, a historical marker named the Fred
Rogers Historical Marker was placed near Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and
was named and dedicated in his memory.
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