Peggy Sundelle Charren

Peggy Sundelle (Walzer) Charren, 86, of Dedham, passed away Thursday January 22, 2015. Peggy was born March 9, 1928, in New York City, to Maxwell and Ruth Walzer. From her parents, Peggy was given “a sense that you can go out there and fix how the world works.” This sense guided her throughout her career. Her childhood was filled with art and music, provided in an environment of Leftist activism. Books were central to Peggy’s life early on and remained so throughout her life. Graduating from New York’s Hunter College High School, Peggy went to Connecticut College, where she received her B.A. in English in 1949. Her first job out of college was as head of the film department at WPIX-TV in New York City. As this job ended, in 1951, Peggy married Stanley Charren, the love of her life. From the beginning of their marriage, Stanley became Peggy’s biggest supporter in all of her endeavors. From 1951 to 1968, Peggy started several businesses; an art gallery called Art Prints, Inc. and Quality Book Fairs which organized children’s book fairs in schools in New England. In the late 1960s, Peggy became a member of the Creative Arts Council of Newton, MA and worked to incorporate artists of all kinds into programs for city schools. By 1968, Peggy had closed her businesses. Home with two children, Debbie (born in 1956) and Claudia (born in 1964), Peggy found herself disturbed by the “wall-to-wall monster cartoons” on television for children. She invited friends with similar concerns to meetings in her Newton living room. Out of these meetings, Action for Children’s Television (ACT), a national child advocacy organization, was formed. Peggy went on to lead ACT for over 25 years, encouraging program diversity and the elimination of commercial abuses in children’s television through national conferences, publications, public education campaigns, dialogue with broadcasters, and petitions to federal regulatory agencies. ACT’s culminating success was the passing of the Children’s Television Act of 1990 into law. Peggy worked tirelessly to broaden the quality of offerings on television for children. Throughout ACT’s existence, Peggy was strong in her commitment to the First Amendment. ACT never sought to censor any programming. In 1992, Peggy dissolved ACT and donated ACT’s materials and papers to the Gutman Library at Harvard University. Peggy was named a Visiting Scholar at Harvard and continued to lobby, testify and serve on Presidential commissions and national committees until her retirement in 2005. Peggy held many academic honors and honorary degrees. She received numerous awards for her work, including a Peabody Award and a Trustee’s Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 1995, Peggy was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton. Peggy is survived by her husband, Stanley, of Dedham, her daughter Deborah Charren and her husband Timothy Diehl of Northampton, her daughter (Claudia) Sandi Moquin and her husband Kyle Moquin of Feeding Hills, her sister and brother-in-law Barbara and Rolf Korstvedt of Redondo Beach, California, her brother-in-law Burton Charren of Providence, Rhode Island, her grandchildren, Hannah and Zachary Charren-Diehl, Corey and Veronica Moquin and Matthew and Andrew Diehl and seven great-grandchildren. Peggy’s family is deeply grateful to the staff at NewBridge on the Charles and Always Here Home Care for their dedicated caretaking, to Katelyn McNeil for her excellent nursing support, to Hebrew Senior Life Hospice workers for their care, and to Emily Saltz for her expert guidance during Peggy’s journey through vascular dementia. Funeral services will be held Sunday January 25th at 1:00PM, at Sugarman-Sinai Memorial Chapel, 458 Hope St, Providence, RI with burial in Lincoln Park Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to WGBH-TV in Cambridge or the Clinton Global Initiative/Clinton Foundation at www.clintonfoundation.org. Shiva will be held at NewBridge on the Charles Monday 4-7PM and Tuesday 1:30PM-4:30PM and at the residence of Deborah Charren and Timothy Diehl Thursday 7-9PM. WGBH-TV will be hosting a celebration of Peggy’s life in early March 2015.