Sheryl Lyna Stamps Leach is an American author who cocreated the children's show ''

Barney & Friends ''Barney & Friends'' is an American children's television series created by Sheryl Leach targeted at children ages two to five. The flagship production of the ''Barney'' franchise, it originally aired on PBS under the PBS Kids brand from Ap ...

'' with Kathy Parker and Dennis DeShazer.

Education

Leach holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education from

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

(SMU) and a master's degree in bilingual education from Texas A&M University - Commerce.

Career

In the late 1980s, Sheryl Leach, along with Kathy Parker and Dennis DeShazer, came up with the concept for a children’s television show featuring a purple dinosaur named Barney. They believed that such a character could help young children learn important life lessons and skills in a fun and engaging way. Inspired by their own experiences as parents, they created the character and developed the show’s format. Leach, a former teacher, worked with Parker and DeShazer on what would become the TV show in 1987. Originally, the star of the show was envisioned as a teddy bear, but since her toddler son sparked an interest in

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s, the character was changed to a dinosaur. Leach and her team created a series of home videos called ''

Barney and the Backyard Gang ''Barney & the Backyard Gang'' is an American direct-to-video series produced by The Lyons Group and released in periodic installments from August 29, 1988, to September 21, 1991. The first installment in the ''Barney'' franchise, the series' s ...

''. The videos were sold directly to the public. In 1991, after

Connecticut Public Television Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) is the PBS member network for the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is owned by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, a community-based non-profit organization that holds the licenses for all PBS member stations lic ...

employee Larry Rifkin rented a Barney video for his daughter, he spoke with the creators about putting Barney on television. In October of that year, production began on the new TV show, titled ''

'', and in April 1992, it premiered on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. Barney went onto receive a number of awards and honors.

Personal life

On January 9th, 2013, Leach's son Patrick was arrested for assault with a firearm. He was released on USD$1 million bond. The incident stemmed from Patrick viewing security footage that led him to believe his 49-year-old neighbor was trespassing on his property. Patrick ultimately shot his neighbor in the chest following a "screaming match" in the latter's driveway. Patrick attempted to escape by vehicle, but was intercepted by authorities on the Pacific Coast Highway, several miles from the site of the incident. He was found in possession of a loaded

handgun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...

and

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

. His neighbor was left bleeding out, but ultimately survived the encounter after being hospitalized in critical condition. In 2015, Patrick was sentenced to 15 years in prison for

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seve ...

, but was released five years early. According to ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', Sheryl likened the character of Barney to a "brother" of sorts for her son. According to Stephen White, a head writer on the show: "Barney was like another entity in the family competing for attention. I could imagine that Patrick wouldn’t be crazy about that comparison. ..I think Patrick had a lot to contend with in life — a lot of challenges. Some were medical issues; he had had some brain surgery. I knew Patrick was troubled." Additionally, he had been bullied due to "his association with a kid's show," unbeknownst to Sheryl.

Awards

Leach was nominated twice for

Daytime Emmy Awards The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...

. She holds an honorary doctorate from

Texas A&M University–Commerce East Texas A&M University (ETAMU; formerly Texas A&M University–Commerce) is a public university in Commerce, Texas, United States. With an enrollment of over 12,000 students as of fall 2017, the university is the third-largest institution in ...

Philanthropy

Leach and her life partner Howard Rosenfeld have sponsored projects through their

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

organization the Shei'rah Foundation, including a number of documentaries and several youth-based media projects. In 2007, Leach and Rosenfeld designed and built The Smithy, a specialty retail outlet in the village of New Preston in Litchfield County Connecticut, that sells local artisanal foods and handicrafts. Leach and Rosenfeld are also involved with community development, land conservation projects, and farming organizations in Litchfield County. They own and support two organic farms and were credited by ''Litchfield Magazine'' as one of the initiators of the "farm to table" movement in the area. They also co-founded the Farmer's Table Dinner program in 2011 together with Partners for Sustainable Healthy Communities.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leach, Sheryl 1952 births Living people Barney (franchise) Mass media people from Dallas Television producers from Texas American women television producers American television writers American women television writers Screenwriters from Texas