Peter, Paul and Mary star Peter Yarrow has died.
On Tuesday, publicist Ken Sunshine announced that the folk artist had died at his home in Manhattan following a battle with bladder cancer. He was 86.
Yarrow had been diagnosed with the disease four years earlier.
In a statement, his daughter Bethany insisted that her father had a “magnificent” life.
“Our fearless dragon is tired and has entered the last chapter of his magnificent life,” she said. “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.”
The singer-songwriter rose to prominence as a member of the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, also comprised of Paul Stookey and Mary Travers. He co-wrote one of the group’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”.
He continued, “Perhaps Peter was both of the brothers I never had, and I shall deeply miss both of him.”
In addition, Yarrow was a prominent political activist and was vocal about his opposition to the Vietnam War.
However, he wasn’t without controversy; in 1970, he was convicted of taking “improper liberties” with a 14-year-old girl. He served three months in jail and issued a public apology.
In 1981, Yarrow was granted a pardon by the then U.S. president, Jimmy Carter.
The artist 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, while Stookey is now 87.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: Marsha Miller – Public Domain