Jon Stone

Jon Arthur Stone (April 13, 1931 – March 30, 1997) was an American television screenwriter, director, producer, and chlidren's author who was best known as an original crewmember on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is credited with helping to develop characters such as Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird. Stone won 18 television Emmy Awards and is regarded as one of the best children's television writers. He attended Pomfret School and entered Williams College, graduating in 1952. Three years later, Stone received a master's degree from the Yale University School of Drama and joined a CBS training program. He was one of the three original producers of the program and later served as an executive producer for many years. 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. They had two daughters before divorcing in 1974.

Stone died in New York on March 30, 1997, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, two 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.