American television writer and producer (born 1929)
Joan Ganz Cooney
Cooney in 1985
Born
Joan Ganz
(1929-11-30) November 30, 1929 (age 94)
Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Education
North High School
Dominican College
University of Arizona (BA)
Occupations
Television writer
television producer
Known for
Children's Television Workshop (1968-2000) (renamed as) Sesame Workshop (2000–present) Sesame Street (1969–present)
Spouses
Tim Cooney
(m. 1964; div. 1975)
Peter G. Peterson
(m. 1980; died 2018)
Relatives
Emil Ganz (grandfather)
Joan Ganz Cooney (born Joan Ganz; November 30, 1929) is an American television writer and producer. She is one of the founders of Sesame Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop or CTW), the organization famous for the creation of the children's television show Sesame Street, which was also co-created by her. Cooney grew up in Phoenix and earned a Bachelor of Arts in education from the University of Arizona in 1951. After working for the State Department in Washington, D.C., and as a journalist in Phoenix, she worked as a publicist for television and production companies in New York City. In 1961, she became interested in working for educational television, and became a documentary producer for New York's first educational TV station WNET (Channel 13). Many of the programs she produced won local Emmys.
In 1966, Cooney hosted what she called "a little dinner party"[1] at her apartment near Gramercy Park. In attendance was her then-husband Tim Cooney, her boss Lewis Freedman, and Lloyd Morrisett, an executive at the Carnegie Corporation, in which the potential of television to teach young children was discussed. Cooney was chosen to oversee and direct the creation of what eventually became the children's television program Sesame Street, which premiered in 1969, and the CTW, the organization that oversaw its production. Cooney was named CTW's first executive director. As one of the first female executives in American television, her appointment was called "one of the most important television developments of the decade".[2]
Cooney remained executive director of the CTW until 1990 when she became the chair of CTW's executive board. She served on different boards, was the trustees of many organizations, and received many awards and honorary degrees. In 2007, the Sesame Workshop founded The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, named in her honor.
^Shirley Wershba (host) (April 27, 1998). "Joan Ganz Cooney, Part 3" (video clip). Archive of American Television. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
JoanGanzCooney (born JoanGanz; November 30, 1929) is an American television writer and producer. She is one of the founders of Sesame Workshop (formerly...
The JoanGanzCooney Center (informally, the Cooney Center) is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan research and innovation group founded by Sesame...
Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) and was created by JoanGanzCooney and Lloyd Morrisett. It is known for its images communicated through...
Street—that have been televised internationally. Television producer JoanGanzCooney and foundation executive Lloyd Morrisett developed the idea to form...
was conceived in 1966 during discussions between television producer JoanGanzCooney and Carnegie Corporation vice president Lloyd Morrisett. Their goal...
Angeles, where Morrisett met Julian Ganz, a middle school classmate who would later introduce him to JoanGanzCooney, the co-founder of Children's Television...
Ronstadt, Sesame Street (Lloyd Morrisett and JoanGanzCooney), and Michael Tilson Thomas 2020 – Debbie Allen, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Midori, and Dick Van...
the title-character from Blue's Clues, were respectively created by JoanGanzCooney and Jim Henson, and Angela C. Santomero, Todd Kessler and Traci Paige...
work on the show was tiring, so he quit in 1975. Television producer JoanGanzCooney said that Freeman loathed appearing in The Electric Company, saying...
Bly Lydia Moss Bradley Mary Steichen Calderone Mary Ann Shadd Cary JoanGanzCooney Gerty Cori Sarah Grimké Julia Ward Howe Shirley Ann Jackson Shannon...
Sesame Street. Henson's involvement in Sesame Street began when he and JoanGanzCooney, one of the creators of the show, met in the summer of 1968, at one...
Bly Lydia Moss Bradley Mary Steichen Calderone Mary Ann Shadd Cary JoanGanzCooney Gerty Cori Sarah Grimké Julia Ward Howe Shirley Ann Jackson Shannon...
Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg (/ˈbeɪdər ˈɡɪnzbɜːrɡ/ BAY-dər GHINZ-burg; née Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who...
down" to the grocery store to buy a loaf. In 1969, television producer JoanGanzCooney and her staff at the Children's Television Workshop were impressed...
did not intend the character to be a representation of black people. JoanGanzCooney was confused by this viewpoint when journalist Linda Francke informed...
Bly Lydia Moss Bradley Mary Steichen Calderone Mary Ann Shadd Cary JoanGanzCooney Gerty Cori Sarah Grimké Julia Ward Howe Shirley Ann Jackson Shannon...
he began appearing with Jimmy Dean on The Jimmy Dean Show. In 1966, JoanGanzCooney and Lloyd Morrisett began developing a children's educational television...
Bly Lydia Moss Bradley Mary Steichen Calderone Mary Ann Shadd Cary JoanGanzCooney Gerty Cori Sarah Grimké Julia Ward Howe Shirley Ann Jackson Shannon...
Bly Lydia Moss Bradley Mary Steichen Calderone Mary Ann Shadd Cary JoanGanzCooney Gerty Cori Sarah Grimké Julia Ward Howe Shirley Ann Jackson Shannon...
Bly Lydia Moss Bradley Mary Steichen Calderone Mary Ann Shadd Cary JoanGanzCooney Gerty Cori Sarah Grimké Julia Ward Howe Shirley Ann Jackson Shannon...
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