Folk singer Peter Yarrow, best known as a member of the trio Peter, Paul and Mary, has died at 86. His publicist confirmed Yarrow died Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family at his home in New York City, after a four-year battle with bladder cancer.
The son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, Peter Yarrow grew up in New York City. He began performing folk music as an undergrad at Cornell, and met his bandmates Mary Travers and Noel Paul Stookey in the Greenwich Village folk scene. As Peter, Paul and Mary, the three saw enormous success in the early 1960s, spurred on by a song Yarrow co-wrote, "Puff, the Magic Dragon." The group would notch six Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1969, and earn five Grammy awards.
Yarrow was a political activist throughout his life, and wrote the anti-Vietnam War protest song "Day Is Done," released by Peter, Paul and Mary in 1969. But in 1970, his reputation was tarnished after he was convicted for a sexual offense against a minor. He served three months in prison and was ultimately pardoned by President Jimmy Carter.
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