--- description: Lisa Simon, a woman who was part of the children’s program Sesame Street from its inception, died in New York City on April 4 on... title: Emmy-Winning 'Sesame Street' Producer Lisa Simon Dies at 64 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc83652b7bd156054/6987ea7a8e0601402345e0e1/494222207.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Emmy-winning _Sesame Street_ Producer Lisa Simon Dies at 64 by [Jennifer Maas / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jennifer Maas / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 10, 2015 7:26 AM CUT  General view of atmosphere at the 12th annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City on May 28, 2014 General view of atmosphere at the 12th annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City on May 28, 2014Robin Marchant—Getty Images by [Jennifer Maas / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jennifer Maas / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 10, 2015 7:26 AM CUT Lisa Simon, a woman who was part of the children’s program _Sesame Street_ from its inception, died in New York City on April 4 on her 64th birthday. Jodi Lefkowitz of the New York-based Sesame Workshop confirmed to EW. The longtime producer and director won 20 Daytime Emmys over her 40 year career. Her time at _Sesame Street_ began during its early days with a summer job, after which she stayed on permanently, all while taking night classes at Hunter College to finish her B.A. in communications. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program for _Don’t Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,_ a one-hour special that aired on PBS in 1983. She also produced several _Sesame Str_eet home videos including _Elmocize, Zoe’s Dance Moves_ and _Big Bird Sings_! Apart from _Sesame Street_, Simon produced and directed the children’s programs _Between the Lions, Big Bag, Bear in the Big Blue House, Oobi_ and _Wonder Pets!_ Simon’s volunteer work included setting up a tour of _Sesame Street_ performers to visit those children and families affected by Hurricane Katrina and leading a relief team in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami. Simon recently consulted on the new _Sesame Street_ co-production planned for Abu Dhabi. [_This article originally appeared on EW.com_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/09/emmy-winning-sesame-street-producer-lisa-simon-dies-64 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3816825/lisa-simon-sesame-street-dead-obituary-emmy-elmo-zoe-big-bird/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3816825/lisa-simon-sesame-street-dead-obituary-emmy-elmo-zoe-big-bird/"},"headline":"Emmy-winning Sesame Street Producer Lisa Simon Dies at 64","datePublished":"2015-04-10T07:26:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:18:02.797Z","description":"Lisa Simon, a woman who was part of the children’s program Sesame Street from its inception, died in New York City on April 4 on...","url":"https://time.com/3816825/lisa-simon-sesame-street-dead-obituary-emmy-elmo-zoe-big-bird/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc83652b7bd156054/6987ea7a8e0601402345e0e1/494222207.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Maas / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc83652b7bd156054/6987ea7a8e0601402345e0e1/494222207.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"12th Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala","caption":"12th Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala","creditText":"Robin Marchant—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3816825/lisa-simon-sesame-street-dead-obituary-emmy-elmo-zoe-big-bird/","name":"Emmy-winning Sesame Street Producer Lisa Simon Dies at 64"}}]}] ```