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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 17, 1993                   TAG: 9303170236
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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PEOPLE

It couldn't have been a more beautiful day in the neighborhood. After all, Mister Rogers was being honored for 25 years on public television.

Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff declared Tuesday "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Day" in honor of "25 years of positive images and role models for children, 25 years of caring."

"It's not the honors and not the titles and not the power that is of ultimate importance," Fred Rogers said. "It's what resides inside."

Rogers, 64, was born in Latrobe, Pa. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1962 with a charge to continue his work with children and families through television.

"Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" has been produced at Pittsburgh public television station WQED since 1968. The series is viewed in 8 million households a week, often by children of baby boomers who watched the show as kids.

"I feel that now I'm a grandfather to many of the young children rather than just a parent," said Rogers, himself a real-life granddad to a 4-year-old.

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