Cooney, Joan Ganz (1929–)

views updated

Cooney, Joan Ganz (1929–)

American tv executive. Name variations: Joan Ganz. Born Joan Ganz in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov 30, 1929; dau. of Sylvan C. (banker) and Pauline (Reardan) Ganz; attended Dominican College, San Rafael, California; University of Arizona, BA cum laude, 1951; m. Timothy J. Cooney (treasurer of Equal Employment Council), Feb 1964 (div.); m. Peter G. Peterson (US secretary of commerce and chair of Lehman Brothers), April 26, 1980.

Founder and director of the Children's Tv Workshop (CTW) and the mastermind behind the revolutionary children's show "Sesame Street," worked as a reporter for the Arizona Republic for a year before moving to New York, where she broke into tv as a publicist for NBC and the "US Steel Hour"; produced documentaries for public tv and won an Emmy for "Poverty, Antipoverty and the Poor" (1966); recommending that all children be given the opportunity to begin schooling at age 4, launched "Sesame Street" (Nov 10, 1969); was president of CTW until 1990, then chair of its executive committee. Awarded National Humanities Medal (2003).

See also Women in World History.