Fred McFeely Rogers was best known as “Mister Rogers,” creator, host, writer, composer, and puppeteer for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which continues to be broadcast on PBS and is its longest-running program.
His journey to the Neighborhood began in 1951 during his senior year at Rollins College, when he became intrigued by the educational potential of television. After graduating with a degree in music composition from Rollins, he joined NBC in New York as an assistant producer for The Kate Smith Hour, The Voice of Firestone, and the NBC Opera Theatre. In 1952, he married Joanne Byrd, a pianist and fellow Rollins graduate.
Returning to his hometown area of western Pennsylvania in 1953, he helped found Pittsburgh’s public television station, WQED, and co-produced an hour-long live daily children’s program, The Children’s Corner, for which he also worked behind the scenes as puppeteer and musician. To broaden his understanding of children, Fred Rogers began his lifelong study of children and families at the Graduate School of Child Development in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. There he had the opportunity to work closely with young children under the supervision of Dr. Margaret B. McFarland, a clinical psychologist. He also completed a Master of Divinity degree at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1963 with the unique charge of serving children and families through the media.
Fred Rogers has been the recipient of virtually every major award in television and education. He has received honorary degrees from more than forty colleges and universities, and in 2002 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
In 1971, Fred Rogers founded Family Communications, Inc. (FCI), a non-profit company for the production of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and other materials. Building on its beginnings in broadcast television production, FCI has expanded into almost all forms of media—print, audio, video, training workshops, the Internet, DVD, and traveling exhibits. For information about Family Communications, visit the website (www.fci.org).
The company’s ongoing work continues to be guided by Fred Rogers’ mission of communicating with young children and their families in clear, honest, nurturing, and supportive ways.