Fred Rogers, 74

“For all its reassuring familiarity, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was a revolutionary idea at the outset and it remained a thing apart through all its decades on television. Others would also entertain the young or give them a leg up on their studies. But it was Fred Rogers, the composer, Protestant minister and student of behavior who ventured to deal head-on with the emotional life of children.” Fred Rogers died yesterday at his Pittsburgh home, at the age of 74.