Born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania , Rogers earned a bachelor's degree in music from Rollins College in He graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary with a bachelor's degree in divinity in and became a Presbyterian minister in He attended the University of Pittsburgh 's Graduate School of Child Development, where he began his thirty-year collaboration with child psychologist Margaret McFarland.
In , he returned to Pittsburgh and adapted the format of his Canadian series to create Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. It ran for 33 years and was critically acclaimed for focusing on children's emotional and physical concerns, such as death, sibling rivalry, school enrollment, and divorce. Rogers died of stomach cancer in , aged His work in children's television has been widely lauded, and he received more than forty honorary degrees and several awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in Rogers influenced many writers and producers of children's television shows, and his broadcasts provided comfort during tragic events, even after his death.
Rogers was born in , at Main Street in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Initially dreaming of becoming a doctor, she settled for a life of hospital volunteer work. Rogers grew up in a large three-story brick house at Weldon Street in Latrobe. He began playing the piano when he was five. Rogers had a difficult childhood. Shy, introverted, and overweight, he was frequently homebound after suffering bouts of asthma. I think he made friends with himself as much as he could. He had a ventriloquist dummy , he had [stuffed] animals, and he would create his own worlds in his childhood bedroom".
Rogers attended Latrobe High School , where he overcame his shyness. And one of them was He then attended Pittsburgh Theological Seminary , from which he graduated magna cum laude in with a Bachelor of Divinity , and was ordained a Presbyterian minister by the Pittsburgh Presbytery of the United Presbyterian Church in He regularly appeared before church officials to maintain his ordination. Rogers wanted to enter seminary after college, [ 16 ] but instead chose to go into the nascent medium of television after experiencing TV at his parents' home in , during his senior year at Rollins College.
Josie Carey worked with him to develop the children's show The Children's Corner , which Carey hosted. Rogers worked off-camera to develop puppets, characters, and music for the show. He also attended the University of Pittsburgh 's Graduate School of Child Development, [ 31 ] [ 32 ] where he began working with child psychologist Margaret McFarland —who, according to Rogers' biographer Maxwell King, became his "key advisor and collaborator" and "child-education guru".
