Folk singer Peter Yarrow — writer of the timeless classic “Puff the Magic Dragon” and one-third of the legendary 1960s trio Peter, Paul and Mary — died Tuesday, a family representative said.
He was 86.
Yarrow died in New York City, publicist Ken Sunshine confirmed to NBC News, years after a bladder cancer diagnosis.
“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,” daughter Bethany Yarrow said in a statement.
Yarrow’s death follows the 2009 passing of 72-year-old Mary Travers, leaving Noel Paul Stookey, 87, as the last surviving member of Peter, Paul and Mary.
The trio’s songs were part of the soundtrack for the civil rights movement and Yarrow co-wrote the group’s most enduring song, “Puff the Magic Dragon,” based on a poem by the late Lenny Lipton.
Stookey said growing up as an only child, he never knew what it was like to have a brother until meeting Yarrow. They were best men at each other’s weddings.
“He was a loving ‘uncle’ to my three daughters. And, while his comfort in the city and my love of the country tended to keep us apart geographically, our different perspectives were celebrated often in our friendship and our music,” Stookey said in a statement.
“I was five months older than Peter — who became my creative, irrepressible, spontaneous and musical younger brother — yet at the same time, I 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. Politically astute and emotionally vulnerable, perhaps Peter was both of the brothers I never had … and I shall deeply miss both of him.”