Jon Stone

Stone was born in New Haven, Connecticut and attended Pomfret School and entered Williams College, graduating in 1952. He received a master's degree from the Yale University School of Drama in 1955 and joined a CBS training program. Stone began his work in children's television as a writer for Captain Kangaroo. He also worked on Kukla, Fran and Ollie before moving to Sesame Street as a writer and producer. He also worked on several other Muppets projects before and during his time on Sesame Street. Stone wrote several children's books, including The Monster at the End of This Book, published by Random House as a Little Golden Book. ==Producing and writing ==

Stone's became associated with Jim Henson in the early 1960s, He was one of the three original producers of the program and later served as an executive producer for many years. Stone also wrote specials, including Big Bird in China and Big Bird in Japan. ==Directing ==

Stone was the director of Sesame Street until 1996. He also directed the 1995 Christmas special ''Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree and Don't Eat the Pictures, a special that brought Sesame Street'' to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and won the Prix Jeunesse International. ==Personal life ==

Stone was married to former actress Beverley Owen. The couple had two daughters before divorcing in 1974. Stone died in New York on March 30, 1997, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, 2 weeks before his 66th birthday. A memorial bench dedicated to Stone was installed on the Literary Walk in Central Park, directly to the right of a bench dedicated to Jim Henson. In Stone's New York Times obituary, Joan Ganz Cooney described him as "probably the most brilliant writer of children's television material in America." Season 29 of Sesame Street was dedicated in his memory. ==References==