“We had the three-quarter-inch production tapes and a playback unit so people could come in and view episodes, often to see themselves as children. People would get very emotional watching it.

Elizabeth Mahoney, bibliographer of the Mister Roger’s Neighborhood Collection

When we bring these materials out for undergraduate classes, they very much know who he is. Mister Rogers is alive and well in Pittsburgh and beyond. The ‘When your child goes to school’ episode from 1986 is as relevant now as it was then.

Clare Withers, curator of the Elizabeth Nesbitt Collection, which houses the Mister Roger’s Neighborhood Collection

 “I think every single project we’re doing at the Office of Child Development, in a way, lives and breathes the Fred Rogers legacy.

Shannon Wanless, director of Pitt’s Office of Child Development and consultant to the "Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood" animated series

“Fred Rogers’ philosophy guided me to teach in the way that I do now. He gave me the confidence to become a writer.

Jeanne Marie Laskas, Distinguished Professor of English, founding director of Pitt’s Center for Creativity and best-selling author who interviewed Rogers numerous times

Pitt helped me with editorial skills, critically evaluating literature and developing an editorial eye. Today, I have a really honed eye for details that matter to the values of Fred Rogers Productions—which are, ultimately, the values of Fred Rogers. He had a lot of things to say that translate into adulthood and being a good person on this planet. This is a necessary thing in today’s climate.

Arielle Reed, Pitt English Writing, 2017, production coordinator at Fred Rogers Productions

One of the many special things about Fred Rogers was his interest in how we can actually make media valuable and appropriate for children. And these are questions that have been asked in Pittsburgh for a long time. They’re questions that people who studied children’s literature and worked with children in the area have seen as interconnected—with a variety of different disciplines.

Courtney Weikle-Mills, director of the Children's Literature Certificate Program at Pitt

There is no act in Mister Rogers. How he behaves toward children on television is the same as how he behaves toward children off camera.

Margaret McFarland, Fred Rogers' mentor and consultant, and a professor of psychiatry at Pitt’s School of Medicine

I’ll never forget the sense of wholeness I felt when I finally realized, after a lot of help from a lot of people, what, in fact, I really wasn’t. I was not just a songwriter or a language buff or a student of human development or a telecommunicator, but someone who could use every talent that had ever been given to me in the service of children and their families.

Fred Rogers