Mister Rogers' widow accepts award at WQED annual meeting

Kate Benz
Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014 9:00 p.m. | Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014 9:00 p.m.

John Altdorfer

Joanne Rogers and Michael Bartley were among the guests at a reception before the annual meeting of the WQED board of directors at the organization's Oakland headquarters. Oct. 9, 2014.

John Altdorfer

WQED president and CEO Deborah Acklin, PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger and outgoing board chair Debbie Caplan were among the guests at a reception before the annual meeting of the WQED board of directors at the organization's Oakland headquarters. Oct. 9, 2014.

John Altdorfer

Darryl Ford-Williams, Natalie Kaplan and Elsie Hillman were among the guests at a reception before the annual meeting of the WQED board of directors at the organization's Oakland headquarters. Oct. 9, 2014.

John Altdorfer

WQED-FM personality Jim Cunningham and former Mendelssohn Choir manager Barry Miller chat during a reception before the annual meeting of the WQED board of directors at the organization's Oakland headquarters. Oct. 9, 2014.

John Altdorfer

Evan Durst Jessica Levenson and her father, Dr. David Levenson, were among the guests at a reception before the annual meeting of the WQED board of directors at the organization's Oakland headquarters. Oct. 9, 2014.

John Altdorfer

Selena Schmidt, George Hazimanolis and Jackie Dixon were among the guests at a reception before the annual meeting of the WQED board of directors at the organization's Oakland headquarters. Oct. 9, 2014.

“WQED is the fabric of Pittsburgh,” said outgoing board chairwoman Deb Caplan during the station's annual meeting on Oct. 9. “And a large part of that has to do with Fred Rogers.”

It certainly was a beautiful day in the neighborhood at the Oakland studios, where his widow, Joanne Rogers, was on hand to accept the 2014 Changes Lives award on behalf of her beloved late husband.

“I am the most fortunate widow that there could be,” she said. “I thank all of my friends in Pittsburgh for such loving acceptance of a Southern girl.”

The evening included a special keynote from PBS prexy Paula Kerger, who extolled the extraordinary foundation that WQED has built for public television stations across the globe.

“The vision of what public media can and will be thrives here in Pittsburgh,” she said.

Spied were WQED prexy Deb Acklin, Elsie Hillman, Fred Rogers Company CEO Bill Isler, Bill Caroselli, Jackie Dixon, Rick Sebak, Michael Bartley, Jim Cunningham and Marlon Ferguson,

Kate Benz is the social columnist for Trib Total Media and can be reached at kbenz@tribweb.com, 412-380-8515 or via Twitter @KateBenzTRIB.

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