caption death_date death_place religion birth_place years_active nationality name birth_date alma_mater known_for image article_title birth_name occupation death_cause
horwich in 1955 . july 22 , 2001 -lrb- aged 94 -rrb- scottsdale , arizona judaism ottawa , ohio 1952 - 2001 united states frances rappaport horwich july 16 , 1907 columbia ed.d. -rrb- university -lrb- m.ed . -rrb- northwestern university -lrb- '' ding dong school '' frances horwich 1955.jpg frances horwich
 frances rappaport television host television executive educator congestive heart failure
frances horwich

frances rappaport horwich -lrb- born frances rappaport , 16 july 1907 -- 22 july 2001 -rrb- was the host of the popular us children 's television program , `` ding dong school '' .
horwich was born in ottawa , ohio .
she earned her master 's degree in education at columbia university and her doctorate at northwestern university .
she then became the head of the department of education at chicago 's roosevelt college .
`` ding dong school '' was developed by the show 's producer , reinald werrenrath , jr. , and judith waller , director of public affairs programming for the nbc central division , and began to air in the chicago area on wnbq-tv -lrb- now wmaq-tv -rrb- .
the show quickly gained popularity among young children and was broadcast nationally on the nbc network , monday through friday , beginning in november of 1952 .
in that year , frances horwich won the george foster peabody award .
the series is said to have garnered a 95 percent share of all preschoolers at one time .
in 1954 , horwich moved to new york , where she supervised all of nbc 's children 's programming .
she held this position until 1956 , when `` ding dong school '' was canceled in favor of `` the price is right '' .
horwich owned the rights to `` ding dong school '' and syndicated the show until 1965 .
horwich resigned from nbc in protest of the commercialism of children 's education .
she refused to advertise products a child could not use or that appeared to glorify violence .
but in late 1955 , a `` new york times '' columnist , jack gould , cautioned horwich over the use of a commercial for vitamins , implying that she inadvertently had encouraged children to swallow all pills that they found pleasing to look at : she `` demonstrated how pretty the red pills were and how easy to swallow they were .
` to put it as mildly as possible , dr. horwich has gone a step too far in letting a commercial consideration jeopardize her responsibility to the young children whose faith and trust she solicits . ' ''
she is cited as having invented the television technique of speaking to the viewing audience as if they were in the same room across from you .
those who subsequently adopted this style included fred rogers and the cast of `` sesame street '' .
miss frances was mentioned by name four different times in peanuts comic strips by creator charles schulz -lrb- 8 june 1954 , 30 august 1955 , 19 march 1956 , 27 august 1956 -rrb- .
by 1970 , horwich had returned to chicago and become involved with local programming again .
she eventually retired with her husband , harvey , to scottsdale , arizona .
the two were married in 1931 .
frances horwich died of congestive heart failure on 22 july 2001 at the age of 94 .
a month before her death , horwich was inducted into the silver circle of the chicago chapter of the national academy of the television arts and sciences on june 2 , 2001 .
in 2006 , an ohio historical marker commemorating her life was placed by the local daughters of the american revolution chapter in ottawa .
