Joan Ganz Cooney Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
Joan Ganz Cooney (born Joan Ganz; November 30, 1929) is an American television producer. She is one of the founders of the Children's Television Network (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, Arizona and earned a B.A. degree 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" at her apartment near Gramercy Park. In attendance was her 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".Cooney remained executive director of the CTW until 1990, when she became the chair of CTW's executive board. She served on several 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.
Peter George Peterson (m. 1990), Timothy J. Cooney (m. 1964–1975)
Parents
Pauline Ganz, Sylvan Ganz
Awards
Presidential Medal of Freedom, International Emmy Founders Award, Grammy Award for Best Album for Children, Evelyn F. Burkey Award
TV Shows
5, Rue Sésame, 1, rue Sésame, Sesame Street, Plaza Sésamo, Takalani Sesame, Sesamstraat, Ulitsa Sezam, Ulica Sezamkowa
Star Sign
Sagittarius
#
Fact
1
In 1969, she and her husband became "de facto foster parents to an inner-city black child," who eventually returned to live with his mother and was killed in New York City before he turned 30.
2
New York City, New York [October 2008]
3
Stepmother-in-law of Tara Marie Peters (born 1971).
4
Stepmother of Michael Alexander Peterson (born 1970).
5
Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998.
6
Original founder, in 1968, of the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop).
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
3-2-1 Contact
1980-1988
TV Series executive producer - 107 episodes
Follow That Bird
1985
executive producer
The Electric Company
1971-1977
TV Series executive producer - 779 episodes
Wallace Stevens: A Poet's Seasons
1967
TV Movie producer
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Sesame Street
1970
TV Series creator - 1 episode
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Girl Rising
2013
Documentary grateful acknowledgment
The Electric Company
2006-2011
TV Series special thanks - 53 episodes
The World According to Sesame Street
2006
Documentary special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
In Their Own Words
2015
TV Series
Herself
I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story
2014
Documentary
Herself
Pioneers of Television
2011
TV Mini-Series documentary
Herself / Sesame Street Producer
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey
2011
Documentary
Herself - Co-Founder - Sesame Workshop
The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits
2006
TV Movie documentary
Herself
Television in America: An Autobiography
2002
TV Series documentary
Herself
The 100 Greatest Kids TV Shows
2001
TV Special
Herself
Biography
2001
TV Series documentary
Herself
Intimate Portrait
2001
TV Series documentary
Herself
Sing! Sesame Street Remembers Joe Raposo and His Music