Sesame’s Street’s Bob McGrath passed away Sunday at the age of 90.

The tributes will pour in.

It is rare when an entire generation can collectively bear witness to the impact of a single person upon their lives.

It is even rarer when that person has the longevity that those bearing witness have kids, or even grandkids, who grow up similarly impacted.

An accomplished and award-winning singer with multiple degrees in music, McGrath was part of the cast of the TV Show Sing Along with Mitch, both on the show, and in its Las Vegas residency. He had a teenage following in Japan.

He had an impressive body of work.

And then for 47 years (1969-2016), he did Sesame Street, a number that is as difficult for me to fathom as the fact that for 48 years I have done life.

To me, Bob was a TV friend, a trusted daily neighbor when I was small, and Sesame Street was Must See TV. We had his 1977 album “Bob Sings.”

And, looking back, to me he was unusual, special in so many ways.

First, because he devoted a lifetime to talking to and singing with and making life safer for kids.

Second, because from everything I saw, and read, and from people I knew who encountered him personally, he was the same person off-camera as on.

And as someone who is not infrequently before people and occasionally on screens, this remains a lifetime aspiration for me.

Can I so completely, and authentically identify with a cause, a need, or the heart of people, that there’s no need to hide?

Can I be the sort of person whose character flaws are not whispered about by the people with personal experience of me?

Over a period of 40 years, McGrath was a regular host for Saskatchewan’s Telemiracle fundraiser, which focused on people helping their neighbors and local communities.

In so many ways, McGrath was a good neighbor.

There is something sacred in those who take seriously the hearts and minds and lives of children, whether it is a teacher, a doctor, a business owner, or any number of other “people in your neighborhood.” They have a way of making the world simultaneously more magical and more safe. So many of us have been nourished by the presence of these people.

And somehow, in the age of pandemics, when the world has been chaos, and the mundane has become dangerous, the notion of a TV friend, of a person in your neighborhood who brings magic and safety, seems all the more charged, because they have multiplied.

At various points over the past 3 years, a number of shows became to me what Sesame Street once was, a familiar neighborhood that made the world safer, and encouraged me to choose the best of myself. Whether I was tuning in to Good Morning America, or midday Governor Cuomo updates, or Stephen Colbert highlights, tv friends have often framed the day.

They have given us opportunities to laugh, cry, think, or even just exhale.

They have encouraged us to give, and share, and be kinder, gentler, better versions of ourselves.

So today, as I remember Bob McGrath, I am grateful for his work.

And I am inspired to consider ways I can make my community safer, call people higher, and invest in future generations.

We could do worse than to be a person in the neighborhood.

RIP, Bob.

And thank you.