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Renaissance garden in Pieskowa Skała, Poland

A kaiyu-shiki or strolling Japanese garden

Nicosia municipal gardens

The Sunken Garden of Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia

The back garden of the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, India

Flower-bed with the date in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has traditionally been a more general one. Zoos, which display wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were formerly called zoological gardens.^[1][2] Western gardens are almost universally based on plants, with garden often signifying a shortened form of botanical garden.

The etymology of the word refers to enclosure: it is from Middle English gardin, from Anglo-French gardin, jardin, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German gard, gart, an enclosure or compound, as in Stuttgart. See Grad (Slavic settlement) for more complete etymology.^[3] The words yard, court, and Latin hortus (meaning "garden," hence horticulture and orchard), are cognates—all referring to an enclosed space.^[4]

The term "garden" in British English refers to a small enclosed area of land, usually adjoining a building.^[5] This would be referred to as a yard in American English.

Some traditional types of eastern gardens, such as Zen gardens, use plants such as parsley. Xeriscape gardens use local native plants that do not require irrigation or extensive use of other resources while still providing the benefits of a garden environment. Gardens may exhibit structural enhancements, sometimes called follies, including water features such as fountains, ponds (with or without fish), waterfalls or creeks, dry creek beds, statuary, arbors, trellises and more.

Some gardens are for ornamental purposes only, while some gardens also produce food crops, sometimes in separate areas, or sometimes intermixed with the ornamental plants. Food-producing gardens are distinguished from farms by their smaller scale, more labor-intensive methods, and their purpose (enjoyment of a hobby rather than produce for sale). Flower gardens combine plants of different heights, colors, textures, and fragrances to create interest and delight the senses.

Gardening is the activity of growing and maintaining the garden. This work is done by an amateur or professional gardener. A gardener might also work in a non-garden setting, such as a park, a roadside embankment, or other public space. Landscape architecture is a related professional activity with landscape architects tending to specialise in design for public and corporate clients.

Garden design[link]

Garden design is the creation of plans for the layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Gardens may be designed by garden owners themselves, or by professionals. Most professional garden designers are trained in principles of design and in horticulture, and have an expert knowledge and experience of using plants. Some professional garden designers are also landscape architects, a more formal level of training that usually requires an advanced degree and often a state license.

Elements of garden design include the layout of hard landscape, such as paths, rockeries, walls, water features, sitting areas and decking, as well as the plants themselves, with consideration for their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, lifespan, growth habit, size, speed of growth, and combinations with other plants and landscape features. Consideration is also given to the maintenance needs of the garden, including the time or funds available for regular maintenance, which can affect the choices of plants regarding speed of growth, spreading or self-seeding of the plants, whether annual or perennial, and bloom-time, and many other characteristics. Garden design can be roughly divided into two groups, formal and naturalistic gardens.^[6]

The most important consideration in any garden design is, how the garden will be used, followed closely by the desired stylistic genres, and the way the garden space will connect to the home or other structures in the surrounding areas. All of these considerations are subject to the limitations of the budget. Budget limitations can be addressed by a simpler garden style with fewer plants and less costly hardscape materials, seeds rather than sod for lawns, and plants that grow quickly; alternatively, garden owners may choose to create their garden over time, area by area.

Elements of a garden[link]

Garden at the centre of intersection in Shanghai.

Naturalistic design of a Chinese garden incorporated into the landscape, including a pavilion

The elements of a garden consist of the following:

Natural conditions and materials:

• Soil
• Rocks
• Light
• Wind
• Water from Precipitation or other source
• Air
  • Pollution
  • Proximity to ocean (salinity)
• Plant materials

Constructed elements:

• Garden beds
• Paths
• Pool, water garden, or other water elements such as drainage system
• Terrace, patio, deck
• Lighting
• Sculpture,
• Buildings such as sheds, gazebos, pergolas and follies

Uses for the garden space[link]

A garden can have aesthetic, functional, and recreational uses:

• Cooperation with nature
  • Plant cultivation
• Observation of nature
  • Bird and insectwatching
  • Reflection on the changing seasons
• Relaxation
  • Family dinners on the terrace
  • Children playing in the garden
  • Reading and relaxing in the hammock
  • Maintaining the flowerbeds
  • Pottering in the shed
  • Basking in warm sunshine
  • Escaping oppressive sunlight and heat
• Growing useful produce
  • Flowers to cut and bring inside for indoor beauty
  • Fresh herbs and vegetables for cooking

Types of gardens[link]

A typical Italian garden at Villa Garzoni, near Pistoia

Checkered garden in Tours, France

Zen garden, Ryōan-ji

French formal garden in the Loire Valley

Bristol Zoo, England

Castelo Branco, Portugal

Hualien, Taiwan

El Escorial, Spain

Gardens may feature a particular plant or plant type(s);

• Back garden
• Bog Garden
• Cactus garden
• Fernery
• Flower garden
• Front garden
• Herb garden
• Mary garden
• Orangery
• Orchard
• Potager
• Rose garden
• Shade garden
• Vegetable garden
• Vineyard
• White garden
• Wildflower garden
• Winter garden

Gardens may feature a particular style or aesthetic:

• Alpine or rock garden
• Bonsai or miniature garden
• Children's Garden
• Chinese garden
• Dutch garden
• English landscape garden
• Gardens of the French Renaissance
• French formal garden
• French landscape garden
• Italian garden
• Japanese garden
• Knot garden
• Korean garden
• Mughal garden
• Native garden
• Persian garden
• Roman gardens
• Spanish garden
• Terrarium
• Trial garden
• Tropical garden
• Water garden
• Wild garden
• Xeriscaping
• Zen garden

Types of garden:

• Botanical garden
• Butterfly Garden
• Butterfly zoo
• Chinampa
• Cold Frame Garden
• Community garden
• Container garden
• Cottage garden
• Cutting garden
• Forest garden
• Garden conservatory
• Green wall
• Greenhouse
• Hanging garden
• Hydroponic garden
• Market garden
• Rain garden
• Raised bed gardening
• Residential garden
• Roof garden
• Sacred garden
• Sensory garden
• Square foot garden
• Vertical garden
• Walled garden
• Windowbox
• Zoological garden

Watering gardens[link]

See rainwater, sprinkler system, drip irrigation, tap water, greywater, hand pump and watering can.

History[link]

In art and literature[link]

• The Garden of Eden
• Romance of the Rose
• Nathaniel Hawthorne's short-story "Rappaccini's Daughter"
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera La finta giardiniera
• Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden
• Elizabeth von Arnim's novels Elizabeth and Her German Garden and Solitary Summer
• John Steinbeck's short-story The Chrysanthemums
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Other similar spaces[link]

Other outdoor spaces that are similar to gardens include:

• A landscape is an outdoor space of a larger scale, natural or designed, usually unenclosed and considered from a distance.
• A park is a planned outdoor space, usually enclosed ('imparked') and of a larger size. Public parks are for public use.
• An arboretum is a planned outdoor space, usually large, for the display and study of trees.
• A farm or orchard is for the production of food stuff.
• A botanical garden is a type of garden where plants are grown both for scientific purposes and for the enjoyment and education of visitors.
• A zoological garden, or zoo for short, is a place where wild animals are cared for and exhibited to the public.

See also[link]

	Gardening portal
	Plants portal

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Garden

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Garden

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article garden.

Wikibooks' A Wikimanual of Gardening has more about this subject: gardening

• Garden Wiki
• Creative Green Spaces

v t e Horticulture and gardening Gardening and Gardens Arboretum Butterfly gardening Forest gardening French intensive gardening Garden Garden design History of gardening Kitchen garden Landscape garden Native gardening Parterre Rain garden Raised bed gardening Roof garden Square foot gardening Sustainable gardening Therapeutic garden Tropical garden Wildlife garden Xeriscaping Horticulture Agriculture Aquaponics Arboriculture Botany Companion planting Crop Floriculture Fruticulture Horticultural flora Indigenous horticulture Intercropping Landscape architecture Oenology Olericulture Plant Plant breeding Plant propagation Postharvest physiology Stock-free agriculture Sustainable agriculture Tropical horticulture Urban agriculture Urban horticulture Viticulture Organic Biodynamic agriculture List of organic gardening and farming topics Vegan organic gardening Plant protection Fungicide Herbicide Index of pesticide articles List of fungicides Pesticide Plant disease forecasting Weed control Agriculture and Agronomy portal Gardening portal Commons

Country Garden (Chinese: 碧桂園; Pinyin: Bìguìyuán) (SEHK: 2007) is a property development company based in Guangdong Province, China, owned by Yang Guoqiang's family (Chinese: 杨国强; Pinyin: Yáng Guóqiáng). It focuses on building high-end residential property.

History[link]

Established in 1997 in Shunde, Guangdong, Country Garden was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on April 20, 2007, making billionaires of five of its shareholders.

Founder Yang Guoqiang built the company from scratch, having previously worked as a farmer and on construction sites.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Yang transferred his shares in Country Garden Holdings to his daughter, Yang Huiyan. In October 2007, she was declared the richest woman in Asia by Forbes Magazine, with a net worth of $16 billion.^[1] Yang himself remains chairman and chief executive of the company.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011, Country Garden became involved in the Siege of Wukan, as it had negotiated with the local government to seize villagers' lands, a move that sparked the protests.^[2]

See also[link]

• Real estate in the People's Republic of China

Notes[link]

1. ^ China's richest person is 26-year old woman: Forbes, Reuters, Oct 8, 2007.
2. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/17/world/asia/wukan-revolt-takes-on-a-life-of-its-own.html?hp

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Country Garden (Holdings)

• Web site of Country Garden(GB)
• Yang Huiyan is 26 and She's Got $16 Billion

v t e Real estate companies of China State-owned BBMG Corporation China Merchants Property China Overseas Land and Investment Limited China Railway Construction Corporation China Railway Engineering Corporation China Resources Land Financial Street Holding Franshion Properties Poly (Hong Kong) Investments Poly Real Estate Sino-Ocean Land Xinyuan Real Estate Yuexiu Property Private-owned Agile Property China Aoyuan Property China Properties Group China SCE Property China Vanke Coastal Greenland Country Garden Evergrande Real Estate Group Fantasia Holdings Glorious Property Holdings Greentown China Hopson Development KWG Property R&F Properties SOHO China Shanghai Forte Land Shimao Property Foreign investment C C Land Henderson China Holdings Ltd. K. Wah International New World China Land Shui On Land

Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003) was an American educator, Presbyterian minister, songwriter, author, and television host. Rogers was most famous for creating and hosting Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968–2001), which featured his gentle, soft-spoken personality and directness to his audiences.^[1]

Initially educated to be a minister, Rogers was displeased with the way television addressed children and made an effort to change this when he began to write for and perform on local Pittsburgh-area shows dedicated to youth. The Public Broadcasting Service developed his own nationally-aired show in 1968 and, over the course of three decades on television, he became an indelible American icon of children's entertainment and education, as well as a symbol of compassion, patience, and morality.^[2] He was also known for his advocacy of various public causes. His testimony before a lower court in favor of time shifting was cited in a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Betamax case, and he gave now-famous testimony to a U.S. Senate committee, advocating government funding for children's television.^[3]

Rogers was honored extensively for his life work in children's education. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor; a Peabody Award for his career; and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. Two resolutions recognizing his work were unanimously passed by U.S. Congress, one of his trademark sweaters was acquired and is on display at the Smithsonian Institution, and several buildings and works of art in Pennsylvania are dedicated to his memory.

In 1996, Mister Fred Rogers was ranked #35 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Fred McFeely Rogers was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Pittsburgh, to James and Nancy Rogers; he had one sister, Elaine Rogers Crozier.^[5] Early in life he spent much of his free time with his maternal grandfather, Fred McFeely, who had an interest in music. He would often sing along as his mother would play the piano and himself began playing at five.^[6]

Rogers graduated from Latrobe High School (1946),^[7] He studied at Dartmouth College (1946–48),^[8] then transferred to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where he earned a B.A. in Music Composition in 1951.^[9]

At Rollins he met Sara Joanne Byrd, an Oakland, Florida native; they married on June 9, 1952.^[10] They had two sons, James (b. 1959) and John (b. 1961).^[11] In 1963 Rogers graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church.

During the course of his career, he garnered forty honorary degrees.^[6] Rogers was red-green color blind,^[12] swam every morning, was a vegetarian, and neither smoked nor drank.^[13]

Rogers had an apartment in New York City and a summer home on Nantucket island in Massachusetts.^[11][14]

Television career[link]

Early work[link]

Fred Rogers on set in the late 1960s

Fred Rogers had a life-changing moment when he first saw television in his parents' home. He entered seminary after college; but, after his first experience as a viewer, he wanted to explore the potential of the medium.^[14] In an interview with CNN in his later years, Rogers stated, "I went into television because I hated it so, and I thought there was some way of using this fabulous instrument to be of nurture to those who would watch and listen."^[13]

He thus applied for a job at NBC in New York City in 1951 and was hired because of his Music degree. Rogers spent three years working on the production staffs for such music-centered programming as NBC Opera Theater. He also worked on Gabby Hayes' show for children. Ultimately, Rogers decided that commercial television's reliance on advertisement and merchandising undermined its ability to educate or enrich young audiences, so he quit NBC.

In 1954, he began working at WQED, a Pittsburgh public television station, as a puppeteer on a local children's show The Children's Corner. For the next seven years, he worked with host Josie Carey in unscripted live TV, developing many of the puppets, characters, and music used in his later work, such as King Friday XIII, and Curious X the Owl.

Rogers began wearing his famous sneakers when he found them to be quieter than his work shoes as he moved about behind the set. He was also the voices of King Friday XIII and Queen Sara Saturday (named after his wife), rulers of the neighborhood, as well as X the Owl, Henrietta Pussycat, Daniel Striped Tiger, Lady Elaine Fairchild, and Larry Horse. The show won a Sylvania Award^[15] for best children's show, and was briefly broadcast nationally on NBC.

During these eight years, he would leave the WQED studios during his lunch breaks to study theology at the nearby Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Rogers, however, was not interested in preaching; and, after his ordination, he was specifically charged to continue his work with Children's Television. He had also done work at the University of Pittsburgh's program in Child Development and Child Care.

In 1963, Rogers moved to Toronto, where he was contracted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to develop a 15-minute children's television program: Misterogers, [sic]^[16] which would be his debut in front of the camera. The show was a hit with children but lasted for only three seasons. Many of his famous set pieces—Trolley, Eiffel Tower, the 'tree', and 'castle'—were created by CBC designers. While in Canada, Rogers brought his friend and understudy Ernie Coombs, who would go on to create Mr. Dressup, a very successful and long-running children's show in Canada, and similar in many ways to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Mr. Dressup also used some of the songs that would be featured on Rogers' later program.

In 1966, Rogers acquired the rights to his program from the CBC and moved the show to WQED in Pittsburgh, where he had worked on The Children's Corner. He developed the new show for the Eastern Educational Network. Stations that carried the program were limited but did include educational stations in Boston, Washington, D.C., and New York City.

After returning to Pittsburgh, Rogers attended and participated in activities at the Sixth Presbyterian church in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, a More Light congregation which he attended until his death.^[17]

Distribution of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood began on February 19, 1968. The following year, the show moved to PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). In 1971, Rogers formed Family Communications, Inc. (FCI), and the company established offices in the WQED building in Pittsburgh. Initially, the company served solely as the production arm of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, but now develops and produces an array of children's programming and educational materials.

[edit] Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

A sweater worn by Rogers, on display in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood began airing in 1968 and ran for 895 episodes; the last set of new episodes was taped in December 2000 and began airing in August 2001. At its peak, in 1985, 8% of U.S households tuned in to the show.^[6]

• Each episode began the same way: Mister Rogers is seen coming home, singing his theme song "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", and changing into sneakers and a zippered cardigan sweater.
• In a typical episode, Rogers might have an earnest conversation with his television audience, interact with live guests, take a field trip to such places as a bakery or a music store, or watch a short film.
• Typical video subjects included demonstrations of how such inanimate objects as bulldozers and crayons work or are manufactured.
• Each episode included a trip to Rogers' "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" featuring a trolley with its own chiming theme song, a castle, and the kingdom's citizens, including King Friday XIII. The subjects discussed in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe often allowed further development of themes discussed in Mister Rogers' "real" neighborhood.
• Mister Rogers often fed his fish during episodes. They were originally named Fennel and Frieda.
• Typically, each week's episode explored a major theme, such as going to school for the first time.
• Originally, most episodes ended with a song entitled "Tomorrow", and Friday episodes looked forward to the week ahead with an adapted version of "It's Such a Good Feeling." In later seasons, all episodes ended with "Feeling."

Visually, the presentation of the show was very simple, and it did not feature the animation or fast pace of other children's shows, which Rogers thought of as "bombardment".^[3] Rogers also believed in not acting out a different persona on camera compared to how he acted off camera, stating that "One of the greatest gifts you can give anybody is the gift of your honest self. I also believe that kids can spot a phony a mile away."^[18] Rogers composed almost all of the music on the program.^{[note 1]} He wanted to teach children to love themselves and others, and he addressed common childhood fears with comforting songs and skits. For example, one of his famous songs explains how a child cannot be pulled down the bathtub drain because he or she will not fit. He even once took a trip to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh to show children that a hospital is not a place to fear. During the Gulf War (1990–91), he assured his audience that all children in the neighborhood would be well cared for and asked parents to promise to take care of their own children. The message was aired again by PBS during the media storm that preceded the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Other television work[link]

In 1994, Rogers created another one-time special for PBS called Fred Rogers' Heroes which consisted of documentary portraits of four real-life people whose work helped make their communities better. Rogers, uncharacteristically dressed in a suit and tie, hosted in wraparound segments which did not use the "Neighborhood" set.

For a time Rogers produced specials for parents as a precursor to the subject of the week on the Neighborhood called "Mister Rogers Talks To Parents About [topic]". Rogers didn't host those specials though as other people like Joan Lunden, who hosted the Conflict special, and other news announcers played MC duties in front of a gallery of parents while Rogers answered questions from them. These specials were made to prep the parents for any questions the children might ask after watching the episodes on that topic of the week.

The only time Rogers appeared on television as someone other than himself was in 1996, when he played a preacher on one episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.^[6]

In the mid-1980s, the Burger King fast-food chain lampooned Rogers' image with an actor called "Mr. Rodney", imitating Rogers' television character.^[19] Rogers found the character's pitching fast food as confusing to children, and called a press conference in which he stated that he did not endorse the company's use of his character or likeness (Rogers did no commercial endorsements of any kind throughout his career, though he acted as a pitchman for several non-profit organizations dedicated to learning over the years). The chain publicly apologized for the faux pas, and pulled the ads.^[20] By contrast, Fred Rogers found Eddie Murphy's parody of his show on Saturday Night Live, "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood," amusing and affectionate, which was also initially broadcast at a time of night when his own child audience was not likely to see it.^[21]

Emmys for programming[link]

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood won four Emmy awards, and Rogers received one for lifetime achievement.

During the 1997 Daytime Emmys, the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Rogers. The following is an excerpt from Esquire's coverage of the gala, written by Tom Junod:

Mister Rogers went onstage to accept the award — and there, in front of all the soap opera stars and talk show sinceratrons, in front of all the jutting man-tanned jaws and jutting saltwater bosoms, he made his small bow and said into the microphone, "All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Ten seconds of silence."

And then he lifted his wrist, looked at the audience, looked at his watch, and said, "I'll watch the time." There was, at first, a small whoop from the crowd, a giddy, strangled hiccup of laughter, as people realized that he wasn't kidding, that Mister Rogers was not some convenient eunuch, but rather a man, an authority figure who actually expected them to do what he asked. And so they did. One second, two seconds, three seconds — and now the jaws clenched, and the bosoms heaved, and the mascara ran, and the tears fell upon the beglittered gathering like rain leaking down a crystal chandelier. And Mister Rogers finally looked up from his watch and said softly "May God be with you," to all his vanquished children.^[14][22]

Other works[link]

This section requires expansion.

Rogers wrote many of the songs that were used on his television program, and more than 36 books including:

• Eight New Experiences titles:
  • Moving
  • Going to the Doctor
  • Going to the Hospital
  • Going to Day Care
  • Going to the Potty
  • Making Friends
  • The New Baby
  • When a Pet Dies (1998)
• The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember (2003)

Advocacy[link]

Rogers meeting with President George W. Bush in 2002.

PBS funding[link]

In 1969, Rogers appeared before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications. His goal was to support funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in response to significant proposed cuts. In about six minutes of testimony, Rogers spoke of the need for social and emotional education that public television provided. He passionately argued that alternative television programming like his Neighborhood helped encourage children to become happy and productive citizens, sometimes opposing less positive messages in media and in popular culture. He even recited the lyrics to one of his songs.

The chairman of the subcommittee, John O. Pastore, was not previously familiar with Rogers' work, and was sometimes described as impatient. However, he reported that the testimony had given him goosebumps, and declared, "I think it's wonderful. Looks like you just earned the $20 million." The subsequent congressional appropriation, for 1971, increased PBS funding from $9 million to $22 million.^[23]

VCR[link]

During the controversy surrounding the introduction of the household VCR, Rogers was involved in supporting the manufacturers of VCRs in court. His 1979 testimony in the case Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. noted that he did not object to home recording of his television programs, for instance, by families in order to watch together at a later time. This testimony contrasted with the views of others in the television industry who objected to home recording or believed that devices to facilitate it should be taxed or regulated.

The Supreme Court considered the testimony of Rogers in its decision that held that the Betamax video recorder did not infringe copyright. The Court stated that his views were a notable piece of evidence "that many [television] producers are willing to allow private time-shifting to continue" and even quoted his testimony in a footnote:

Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the "Neighborhood" at hours when some children cannot use it ... I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the "Neighborhood" off-the-air, and I'm speaking for the "Neighborhood" because that's what I produce, that they then become much more active in the programming of their family's television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been "You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions." Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important.^[24]

Death, awards, and memorials[link]

Rogers was diagnosed with stomach cancer in December 2002, not long after his retirement. He underwent surgery on January 6, 2003, which was unsuccessful.^[5][25] A week earlier, he served as grand marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade, with Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby.^[26]

Rogers died on the morning of February 27, 2003 at his home with his wife by his side, less than a month before he would have turned 75.^[5] His death was such a significant event in Pittsburgh that the entire front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published the next day devoted its coverage to him.^[27] The Reverend William P. Barker presided over a public memorial in Pittsburgh. More than 2,700 people attended the memorial at Heinz Hall, including former Good Morning America host David Hartman, Teresa Heinz Kerry, philanthropist Elsie Hillman, PBS President Pat Mitchell, Arthur creator Marc Brown, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar author-illustrator Eric Carle.^[11] Speakers remembered Rogers' love of children, devotion to his religion, enthusiasm for music, and quirks. Teresa Heinz Kerry said of Rogers, "He never condescended, just invited us into his conversation. He spoke to us as the people we were, not as the people others wished we were."^[28] Rogers is interred at Unity Cemetery in Latrobe.

On New Years Day of 2004, Michael Keaton hosted the PBS TV special Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor. It was released on DVD September 28 that year. Keaton was a former stagehand on the show before he quit to become an actor. To mark what would have been his 80th birthday, Rogers' production company sponsored several events to memorialize him, including "Won't You Wear a Sweater Day", during which fans and neighbors were asked to wear their favorite sweaters in celebration.^[29]

The television industry honored Rogers with a George Foster Peabody Award "in recognition of 25 years of beautiful days in the neighborhood" in 1987,^[30] the same year he was initiated as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, the national fraternity for men of music.^[31] Rogers was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.^[32] He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.^[33] One of Rogers' iconic sweaters was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution, which displays it as a "Treasure of American History".^[34] In 2002 Rogers received the PNC Commonwealth Award in Mass Communications.^[35]

He was furthermore awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002, for his contributions to children's education, justified by President George W. Bush, who said, "Fred Rogers has proven that television can soothe the soul and nurture the spirit and teach the very young". A year later, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed Resolution 16 to commemorate the life of Fred Rogers.^[1] It read, in part, "Through his spirituality and placid nature, Mr. Rogers was able to reach out to our nation's children and encourage each of them to understand the important role they play in their communities and as part of their families. More importantly, he did not shy away from dealing with difficult issues of death and divorce but rather encouraged children to express their emotions in a healthy, constructive manner, often providing a simple answer to life's hardships."

Following Rogers' death, the U.S. House of Representatives in 2003 unanimously passed Resolution 111 honoring Rogers for "his legendary service to the improvement of the lives of children, his steadfast commitment to demonstrating the power of compassion, and his dedication to spreading kindness through example."^[36]

The same year the U.S. Presbyterian Church approved an overture "to observe a memorial time for the Reverend Fred M. Rogers" at its General Assembly.^[37] The rationale for the recognition of Rogers reads, "The Reverend Fred Rogers, a member of the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, as host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood since 1968, had a profound effect on the lives of millions of people across the country through his ministry to children and families. Mister Rogers promoted and supported Christian values in the public media with his demonstration of unconditional love. His ability to communicate with children and to help them understand and deal with difficult questions in their lives will be greatly missed."^[38]

Several buildings, monuments, and works of art are dedicated to Rogers' memory, including a mural sponsored by the Pittsburgh-based Sprout Fund in 2006, "Interpretations of Oakland," by John Laidacker that featured Mr. Rogers.^[39] Saint Vincent College in (Latrobe, Pennsylvania) completed construction of The Fred M. Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media in 2008.^[40] The Fred Rogers Memorial Statue on the North Shore near Heinz Field in Pittsburgh^[41] was created by Robert Berks and dedicated in 2009.^[42]

The asteroid 26858 Misterrogers is named after Rogers. This naming, by the International Astronomical Union, was announced on May 2, 2003 by the director of the Henry Buhl Jr. Planetarium & Observatory at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. The science center worked with Rogers' Family Communications, Inc. to produce a planetarium show for preschoolers called "The Sky Above Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", which plays at planetariums across the United States.^[43][44]

False rumors[link]

A false rumor claims that Fred Rogers was once a U.S. Marine sniper in the Vietnam War. The rumor appeared on the Internet in 1994 and re-emerged several times over the next ten years, most notably after his death in 2003.^[45][46] However, Rogers never served in any branch of the military. Beginning in 1963, Rogers developed the Misterogers program for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1966, he moved back to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the U.S. where he produced Mister Rogers' Neighborhood through the height of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. Related claims that Rogers had a number of military tattoos are also entirely false.^[47]

See also[link]

Biography portal

• Colcom Foundation

Notes[link]

1. ^ Bits of incidental music, such as improvisations from members of the orchestra or music from guests to the program, weren't composed by Rogers. The recurring iconic songs, however, were all Rogers' work.

References[link]