Rosalind P. Walter, the original inspiration for “Rosie the Riveter” and longtime PBS supporter, died Wednesday at the age of 95.
WNET in New York City, America’s flagship PBS station, announced Walter’s death in a statement Thursday. Walter was a longtime trustee for the station who gave support for a number of WNET series through the Rosalind P. Walter Foundation.
“Walter cared deeply about the quality and educational value of public television and understood the importance of reaching the broadest possible audience,” the station said.
She was an inspiration behind 1943’s “Rosie the Riveter,” a song about the year she spent as a night-shift welder at the Sikorsky aircraft plant at Bridgeport, Connecticut, at the age of 19.
At the age of 19, she spent a year as a night-shift welder at the Sikorsky aircraft plant at Bridgeport, Connecticut, inspiring the 1943 song “Rosie the Riveter,” according to WNET.
The song went on to define a generation of women during World War II who entered the workforce to help keep the war effort afloat as men fought on the front lines.
Walter served as a board member on a number of organizations in the New York City area, including the American Museum of Natural History and The Paley Center for Media.
