I heard about it right before I had to go take a huge music history exam. I was actually distraught over it. I still watch him when I get a chance and the show is one of the few things in my life that always comforts me. May God bless him for all the good he did for so many people.

by the way, a little confession: I was in my teens before I realized that King Friday was the 13th...I never knew what those "funny letters" after his name were. :)

Very sad. I grew up with Mr. Rogers. He will be missed. :(

:( so sad...

bit/pieces from CNN.com-

"Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" won loads of recognition, including four Emmys and a lifetime achievement award. A cardigan sweater belonging to Rogers hangs in the Smithsonian.

Those sweaters became Rogers' identifying characteristic. He credits his mom for the fashion statement that says, more than anything else, "Won't you be my neighbor?"

"My mother made a sweater a month for as many years as I knew her," Rogers said. "And every Christmas she would give this extended family of ours a sweater.

"She would say, 'What kind do you all want next year?' " said Rogers. "She said, 'I know what kind you want, Freddy. You want the one with the zipper up the front.' "

An ordained Presbyterian minister, Rogers' command of innocence won him thousands of young fans.

"I do think that young children can spot a phony a mile away," he says.

And it also made him the butt of parody by adults like comedian Eddie Murphy, who played his own version of Mister Rogers on "Saturday Night Live."

Rogers knows for a fact that Murphy meant no harm with his humor. In fact, they met once.

"He just put his arms around me and said, 'The real Mister Rogers,' " says Rogers.

On the last show, Rogers enters his home and dons his red zip-up sweater and trades his loafers for a pair of comfy blue sneakers.

The finale ends a weeklong tribute to art, with Rogers leafing through a stack of drawings kids made of the Neighborhood Trolley "to see how different people draw the same thing."

It's a simple message of diversity that will be aired on hundreds of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" reruns on PBS, and Rogers hopes kids who watch it will take it with them as they grow into adults.

"We all long to be lovable and capable of loving," he says. "And whatever we can do through the Neighborhood or anything else to reflect that and to encourage people to be in touch with that, then I think that's our ministry."


What an incredible, incredible man.

Goodbye Neighbor! You will be missed!
:(

I feel sad. I loved Mr. Rodgers. He was a good man.

:(

I watched Mr. Rogers as a child too. He will be missed.

WQED (Mr. Rogers' home station) is running a whole bunch of footage right now, and yes, I'm sitting here bawling.

You're better off than I - I wasn't able to watch it at all!

honeychile

It's a very sad day in the neighborhood. :(

i haven't been this upset since captain kangaroo died.

NOW whose going to be my neighbor

I don't believe capt kangaroo is dead.

http://www.dead-or-alive.org/dead.ns...nf/Keeshan+Bob

Mr. Rogers was a very wise man. These quotes are very inspiring:


http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/0....ap/index.html

Fred Rogers quotes
Thursday, February 27, 2003 Posted: 10:53 AM EST (1553 GMT)

(AP) -- Quotes from Fred Rogers, host of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," from Associated Press interviews.

"People say to my wife, `What's he like?' What you see is what you get. It's just who I happen to be."

"I feel the greatest gift we can give to anybody is the gift of our honest self."

"Of course, I get angry. Of course, I get sad. I have a full range of emotions. I also have a whole smorgasbord of ways of dealing with my feelings. That is what we should give children. Give them ... ways to express their rage without hurting themselves or somebody else. That's what the world needs."

"I have really never considered myself a TV star. I always thought I was a neighbor who just came in for a visit."

"You know, you don't have to look like everybody else to be acceptable and to feel acceptable."

"I have a very modulated way of dealing with my anger. I have always tried to understand the other person and invariably I've discovered that somebody who rubs you the wrong way has been rubbed the wrong way many times."

"We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say 'It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.' Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes."

"There's a generous current in the American spirit. And if we can simply give voice to that once in a while, I think it's a good message."

I heard on the radio that on Mr. Rogers website, there is information and advice on how to help children deal with his death.

Helping others until (and past) the end.

Also, and this could be an urban legend, I heard that he is an ex Marine. Talk about anti-stereotypical.

Definitely an urban legend

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/mrrogers.asp

:)

There should be more people in this world like him.

Goodbye Mr. Rogers. You will be missed :(