VOA News
27 Feb 2003, 10:57 UTC
<p>Fred Rogers, host of the U.S. children's television show "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" for more than 30 years, has died of cancer. He was 74. A family spokesman says Mr. Rogers passed away early Thursday at his home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He had been diagnosed with stomach cancer earlier this year. <p>Mr. Rogers was best known for the slow, soothing tone he used to speak to his audience during his daily half-hour children's television program. He began each show by singing a theme song - which he wrote - and putting on an old wool sweater. The garment now hangs in the Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. <p>He created Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, in 1963 and hosted the program until his retirement in 2000. <p>Born and raised near Pittsburgh, Mr. Rogers attended college in Florida, where he earned a degree in music composition in 1951. He worked as a television producer in New York and returned to Pittsburgh in 1953 to co-host The Children's Corner, U.S. public television's first children's program. <p>It really is a sad day
I got to see his shoes and sweater in a Florida airport a while back, it was cool. At my old house in Cali, we had a closet like his with the curtains on the doors in the backround and I used to think he would shoot the show in my living room, aaaah, those were the days.
