In 1955, White took the job as general manager of WQED in Pittsburgh, Penn. — the nation’s first “community-owned” TV station. WQED’s mission was adult education, trying to fulfill the promise of a new mass medium.
In 1958 he was hired as the president of the National Educational Television Center, the national organization above the at-the-time multiplying “educational” stations. There, White helped NET create original educational shows not just for adults, but children, too, including Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street, which survive today on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), which took over network operations for most public TV stations. White died April 22 at 87.