MR. ROGERS' MENTOR

The Remarkable Woman Behind Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

Posted by Paul Batura

Fred Rogers’ death in 2003 at the age of 74 triggered a wave of nostalgia for the millions of former viewers who grew up watching the gentle, zippered cardigan wearing teacher and host.

Incidentally, his mother made all those sweaters we saw him wear on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

An ordained Presbyterian minister, the Latrobe, Pennsylvania native was bullied as an overweight child, a cruel memory that softened his adult temperament and helped develop his extraordinary empathy for the child who felt out of place or unwelcome. He began playing the piano at the age of five, a talent he’d nurture and then put to productive use on his award-winning PBS show.

Fred spent a year at Dartmouth, graduated from Rollins College with a music degree, and then attended and graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Led to continue working with children, he took classes in Child Development at the University of Pittsburgh where he’d cross paths with Dr. Margaret McFarland – a woman who would profoundly shape and influence the rest of his professional career.

A professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and Director of the Arsenal Family and Children’s Center, Dr. McFarland was an intellectual powerhouse. After graduating from Goucher College, FINISH READING HERE

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