{"id":4178,"date":"2026-06-01T06:09:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T06:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/mister-rogers-neighborhood-handyman-joe-negri-dead-at-99\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T06:09:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T06:09:56","slug":"mister-rogers-neighborhood-handyman-joe-negri-dead-at-99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/mister-rogers-neighborhood-handyman-joe-negri-dead-at-99\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Mister Rogers&#8217; Neighborhood&#8217; handyman Joe Negri dead at 99"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F3%2F2026%2F06%2F129363247.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Jazz musician Joe Negri \u2014 known for his role as the beloved musical handyman on \u201cMister Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood\u201d \u2014 has died. He was 99 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Negri\u2019s oldest daughter, Lisa Negri, said her father died Saturday of natural causes, <a href=\"https:\/\/triblive.com\/aande\/movies-tv\/joe-negri-jazz-guitar-virtuoso-and-mr-rogers-handyman-dies-at-nearly-100\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trib Live reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>He was just days away from celebrating his 100th birthday on June 10.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Joe Negri, known for his role as the beloved musical handyman on \u201cMister Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood,\u201d has died at the age of 99.  <span class=\"credit\">Douglas Mason<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A Pittsburgh native, Negri was born in 1926 and had been a musician since early childhood, when his father gifted him a ukulele at age 3, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/news\/obituaries\/2026\/05\/31\/joe-negri-handyman-mister-rogers-neighborhood\/stories\/201903270145\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He then started playing guitar at age 8 and by 16 was already touring the country with swing bands, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>In the following years, Negri performed on local radio programs and played clubs for dancers such as Fred and Gene Kelly before branching out into other instruments and performing for larger audiences, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/news\/obituaries\/2026\/05\/31\/joe-negri-handyman-mister-rogers-neighborhood\/stories\/201903270145\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But it was his role as \u201cHandyman Negri\u201d on \u201cMister Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood\u201d that made him a household name. The lifelong musician appeared on the show for its entire run, spanning 31 seasons from 1968 to 2001, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.misterrogers.org\/articles\/joe-negri\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to the show\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe handyman doesn\u2019t just fix things \u2014 he also fixes problems. I hope children see me as someone they can trust,\u201d he said of his character.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Negri was best known for his role as the beloved musical handyman on \u201cMister Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood.\u201d  <span class=\"credit\">Fotos International<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Before landing the iconic role, Negri had nearly passed on it, later reflecting in an interview that Fred Rogers \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2018\/01\/23\/mr-rogers-really-was-the-nicest-guy-ever\/\">who died in 2003<\/a> \u2014 had originally persuaded him to join the show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got a call, and he said, \u2018Hey Joe, how would you like to come on my new show and be the handyman?&#8217;\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T0Sf8Xaglck&amp;t=2s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Negri told WQED<\/a> back in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said, \u2018Oh Fred, you\u2019re kidding! I\u2019m not a handyman at all! I don\u2019t even know how to nail a nail straight!\u2019 He said, \u2018Don\u2019t worry about a thing, it\u2019s just gonna be pretend. And it was pretend, and it was wonderful, and it lasted for 35 years!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of the show, Negri\u2019s character took on a larger role \u2014 running \u201cNegri\u2019s Music Shop\u201d and performing alongside legends including Wynton Marsalis, Johnny Costa and Yo-Yo Ma.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>The lifelong musician appeared on the show for its entire run, spanning 31 seasons from 1968 to 2001. <span class=\"credit\">Douglas Mason<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m glad he gave me the music shop because it gave me a really good opportunity to utilize my music,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/pittsburgh\/news\/joe-negri-mr-rogers-neighborhood-dies-age-99\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Negri told KDKA-TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond \u201cMister Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood,\u201d Negri was beloved as a jazz guitar teacher for more than 50 years at the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon University.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, he retired from teaching and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement in the Arts award from the state of Pennsylvania for his dedication to the community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a great life,\u201d Negri told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed teaching and am very proud to be one of the originals to bring jazz guitar into schools.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/06\/01\/celebrity-news\/mister-rogers-neighborhood-handyman-joe-negri-dead-at-99\/\" target=\"_blank\">Source link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jazz musician Joe Negri \u2014 known for his role as the beloved musical handyman on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/129363247.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}