Who Was Fred Rogers?

Fred Rogers was a puppeteer and ordained minister who became the host of the TV program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. With a degree in music composition, he wrote 200 songs for the show, including the theme, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" He was honored with numerous awards and accolades for his dedication to children via television.

Early Life

The beloved and longtime host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Rogers was born on March 20, 1928, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He was an only child until the age of 11 when his parents, James and Nancy, adopted a baby girl.

After graduating from Latrobe High School, Rogers enrolled at Dartmouth College, where he studied for a year before transferring to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Rogers, who'd begun playing the piano at a young age, graduated magna cum laude in 1951 with a degree in music composition.

During his senior year of college, he visited his parents and was awed by the family's newest household addition: a television set. He could see a fantastic future for the medium and, as he'd later recall, Rogers immediately decided he wanted to be a part of it.

Early Career and Sons

Rogers' first job in television came when he worked as an assistant and floor manager of the music programs for NBC in New York City. In 1953 he was hired to work in programming by WQED in Pittsburgh, a recently launched community TV station that was the first of its kind in the country.

By the following year, he was co-producing a new program, The Children's Corner. This allowed Rogers, who'd fallen in love with puppetry as a child, to introduce some of his favorite puppets from his home to his young audience.

In the early 60s, Rogers made his first appearance as "Mister Rogers" on a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation show called Misterogers. The program helped lay the groundwork in its look and approach for Rogers' later show.

As his experience grew, so did his aspirations. He earned his divinity degree in 1962, and at his ordination, the Presbyterian Church asked him to serve children and families through television.

Canada, however, was not where Rogers or his wife, Joanne, whom he'd met at Rollins, wanted to raise their two young sons. Soon, the Rogers family was back in Pittsburgh, where Rogers created Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1966. Two years later, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood aired on PBS stations throughout much of the country.