Joe Negri, the actor and musician who delighted children for more than three decades on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, has died at 99.
Negri died Saturday, just days before he would have turned 100 on June 10, according to TribLive.
His oldest daughter, Lisa Negri, confirmed to the publication that he died of natural causes, though his exact cause of death has not yet been revealed.
Negri, who appeared on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as Handyman Negri, is credited with appearing on 331 episodes of the show from the year of its debut, 1968, to the end of its run in 2001.
He was an accomplished jazz guitarist, and he managed to integrate his real-life talents into his appearances on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, where he was known as Handyman Negri.
On the side, he ran Negri’s Music Shop, where he would hold guitar performances for Rogers and his viewers.
Joe Negri, the actor and musician who delighted children for more than three decades on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, has died at 99; Negri (L) is pictured with Fred Rogers (R)
Negri, an accomplished jazz guitarist, died Saturday, just days before he would have turned 100 on June 10, according to TribLive; pictured in 2011 at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island
In addition to teaching the joys of music to children on television, Negri boasted numerous students as a longtime adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University and Carnegie Mellon University.
Negri was well into his 90s when he finally retired from Duquesne University, where he founded its jazz guitar program, in 2022.
He had retired from the University of Pittsburgh three years earlier, nearly five decades after he began working as a professor.
Deane Root, professor emeritus at Pitt and the former chair of the university’s music department during Negri’s tenure, told TribLive that the late actor and guitarist ‘radiates life as an art form.
‘He crosses generations, and he brings out the best in the musicians he plays with,’ Root said of Negri.
Negri’s devotion to musical education appears to have given him a special affinity for children’s television that began nearly a decade before he began appearing on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood when he appeared on the Pittsburgh-based series Adventure Time in 1959.
Negri had also performed with the jazz pianist Johnny Costa in 1954 on the Pittsburgh-based series 67 Melody Lane, which was hosted by the organist Ken Griffin.
Negri, who appeared on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as Handyman Negri, is credited with appearing on 331 episodes of the show from the year of its debut, 1968, to the end of its run in 2001; pictured on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
On the side, he ran Negri’s Music Shop, where he would hold guitar performances for Rogers and his viewers. In real life, he was a longtime adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University
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