On Tuesday (1.07,) publicist Ken Sunshine announced that Peter Yarrow, one third of the legendary folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary had passed away at his home in Manhattan following a battle with bladder cancer. He was 86 years old.
In a statement about her father, Yarrow’s daughter Bethany insisted that her parent had a “magnificent” life, writing:
“Our fearless dragon is tired and has entered the last chapter of his magnificent life.” “The world knows Peter Yarrow the iconic folk activist, but the human being behind the legend is every bit as generous, creative, passionate, playful, and wise as his lyrics suggest.”
Along with Paul Stookey and Mary Travers, Peter rose to fame as a member of the 1960s folk group and co-wrote one of the act’s most popular songs, 1963’s ‘Puff, the Magic Dragon.’
In a statement to The New York Times, Stookey described Yarrow as his “creative, irrepressible, spontaneous and musical younger brother” and added that he “grew to be grateful for, and to love, the mature-beyond-his-years wisdom and inspiring guidance he shared with me like an older brother”. “Perhaps Peter was both of the brothers I never had, and I shall deeply miss both of him.”
In addition to his singing/songwriting skills, Yarrow was a prominent political activist and was vocal about his opposition to the Vietnam War.
Not controversy; however, in 1970, Peter was convicted of taking “improper liberties” with a 14-year-old girl subsequent to which he served three months in jail and issued a public apology. In 1981, he was granted a pardon by the then U.S. president, Jimmy Carter.
Yarrow married Mary Beth McCarthy in 1969 and they subsequently become parents to Christopher and Bethany. The pair later divorced but remarried in 2022.
Singer Travers died at the age of 72 in 2009, and Stookey is now 87 years old.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: Marsha Miller – Public Domain