Folk Legend Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary Passes Away at 86

Peter Yarrow, whose compassionate and moral melodies for the trio Peter, Paul, and Mary contributed to their status as one of the most acclaimed folk groups of the 1960s, passed away on Tuesday at his residence on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 86 years old.

His passing was verified by Ken Sunshine, his spokesperson. Mr. Sunshine stated that the cause was bladder cancer, which Mr. Yarrow had fought against for the previous four years.

In numerous recordings by the trio, they shared vocal duties evenly, intertwining Mr. Yarrow’s clear tenor with Noel Paul Stookey’s soft baritone and Mary Travers’s rich contralto. Nonetheless, Mr. Yarrow also had several significant lead vocals, headlining such notable group songs as “Puff the Magic Dragon,” “Day Is Done,” and “The Great Mandala,” all of which he either penned or co-penned. “Puff” ascended to a No. 2 hit on the Billboard charts, while “Day Is Done” grazed the Top 20.

Mr. Yarrow crafted numerous other songs performed by the group, frequently in partnership with Mr. Stookey, the last living member of the ensemble (Ms. Travers passed away in 2009 at the age of 72).

During their height, Peter, Paul, and Mary entered the Billboard Top 40 twelve times; six of those tracks reached the Top 10, including one, their rendition of John Denver’s “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane,” which soared to No. 1. They accumulated five Billboard Top 10 albums and topped the magazine’s album chart twice.

Similar to many folk groups of the era, Peter, Paul, and Mary were well-known for their progressive activism as much as for their musical contributions. In August 1963, they participated in the March on Washington, where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Performing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, they sang Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which they had transformed into a Top Five Billboard hit that month; their performance in Washington contributed to its establishment as a civil rights anthem.

The trio also recorded tracks and held concerts in support of liberal presidential candidates Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and George McGovern in 1972. Mr. Yarrow’s lyrics frequently underscored the group’s political dedication: “The Great Mandala,” released in 1967, narrated the story of a war protester on a hunger strike; “Day Is Done” (1969), directed towards his son, implies that future generations might forge a more equitable world.

“Day Is Done” and “Puff the Magic Dragon,” both featuring simple singalong choruses and a willfully naive perspective, also served as children’s songs. Years later, Mr. Yarrow adapted each of them into illustrated children’s books. “Puff” inspired an animated television special in 1978 that was successful enough to generate two sequels.

Peter Yarrow was born on May 31, 1938, in Manhattan to Bernard and Vera (Burtakoff) Yarrow, Jewish expatriates from Ukraine. His father, a lawyer, served as an assistant district attorney in New York under Thomas E. Dewey. He later rose to vice president of the C.I.A.-funded entity Radio Free Europe.

Mr. Yarrow’s parents separated when he was five. His father later converted to Protestantism, but Mr. Yarrow regarded Jewish teachings as a significant influence in his life.

He pursued painting at the High School of Music and Art (now the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts) in Manhattan. During his college years at Cornell, he began singing and playing guitar after taking a course in American folk literature instructed by folklorist and historian Harold William Thompson.

Following his graduation, Mr. Yarrow relocated to New York City and became a performer in the vibrant Greenwich Village folk scene. “I approached with the notion that I want to be involved in music that fosters community,” he expressed to the music magazine Rebeat in 2015 — music, he added, “that touches people’s hearts and inspires them towards a more compassionate society.”

His achievements in the Village led to an invitation to feature on a CBS television special, “Folk Sound USA,” in 1960. It also provided him with the opportunity to perform at the Newport Folk Festival, where he encountered Albert Grossman, a founder of the festival and the manager of the singer Odetta.

Mr. Grossman aimed to assemble a new group that would evolve and refresh the formula of the Weavers, a folk harmony ensemble comprised of one woman and three men (one being Pete Seeger), which achieved considerable popularity in the 1950s. He paired Mr. Yarrow with Ms. Travers, who had performed in Village clubs and sang together with Mr. Seeger multiple times. The duo became a trio when, at Ms. Travers’s suggestion, they included Noel Paul Stookey, with whom she had performed at a local venue. Utilizing Mr. Stookey’s middle name, they adopted their catchy biblical name.

The trio presented a striking visual representation: The two men, dressed in dark ties, hipster goatees, and serious expressions, flanked Ms. Travers, whose blonde hair framed distinguished cheekbones. Mr. Grossman arranged for them to perform at the Bitter End on Bleecker Street, and they created a buzz. In 1961, the group signed with Warner Bros. Records, which released their debut album, simply named “Peter, Paul and Mary,” the following May.

Mr. Yarrow took the lead on the group’s inaugural single, “Lemon Tree,” inspired by a Brazilian folk melody, which made its way into the Billboard Top 40. The complete album climbed to No. 1 after their second single, “If I Had a Hammer,” written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays of the Weavers, became a Top 10 hit and won two Grammy Awards. The album remained in the Top 20 for two years and sold over two million copies.

The group’s subsequent release, “Movin’,” unveiled in early 1963, showcased “Puff the Magic Dragon,” whose lyrics were inspired by a poem written by Mr. Yarrow’s friend Lenny Lipton when he was 19, based on an earlier poem by Ogden Nash titled “The Tale of Custard the Dragon.” Speculation later emerged that the song alluded to smoking marijuana, an interpretation that Mr. Yarrow firmly refuted.

In June 1963, the trio…

In 1964, Mr. Yarrow became a board member of the Newport Folk Festival. In 1970, he initiated the New Folks Concert at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas, evolving into an annual affair. The preceding year, he assisted in organizing the National Mobilization to End the War, an anti-Vietnam War demonstration in Washington that drew an estimated half a million attendees.

Peter, Paul and Mary experienced the pinnacle of their career in 1970 when “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane,” showcasing Ms. Travers’s emotive contralto, ascended to No. 1. Yet only months later, they declared their separation.

They separated partially to embark on solo endeavors, but also due to allegations against Mr. Yarrow of inappropriate advances towards a 14-year-old girl who had visited his dressing room with her 17-year-old sister seeking an autograph in 1969. He served a three-month sentence of a one-to-three-year term after admitting to taking “indecent liberties” with the girl.

In 1981, Mr. Yarrow was granted a presidential pardon by Jimmy Carter, although the issue remained contentious for many election cycles involving politicians that Mr. Yarrow supported.

In 2019, amid the height of the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct towards women, a planned performance by Mr. Yarrow at an upstate New York arts festival was scrapped following protests. A contrite Mr. Yarrow remarked in a statement that the organizers’ decision to exclude him was not “unjust or unfair.”

“I do not intend to diminish or justify my actions and I cannot sufficiently articulate my regret and sorrow for the distress and harm I have caused,” he stated in a declaration to The New York Times.

In 1969, Mr. Yarrow wed Marybeth McCarthy, a niece of the Democratic presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. (Mr. Stookey composed “Wedding Song,” which has since been performed in their honor at nuptial ceremonies worldwide.) The marriage concluded in divorce, yet they remarried in 2022. Aside from her, Mr. Yarrow is survived by a son, Christopher; a daughter, Bethany; and a granddaughter.

Mr. Yarrow unveiled his debut solo album, titled “Peter,” in 1972, but it received lukewarm sales. He enjoyed considerably greater success four years later with “Torn Between Two Lovers,” a composition he crafted with Phillip Jarrell, which became a No. 1 hit for the middle-of-the-road pop artist Mary MacGregor.

Peter, Paul and Mary reconvened for one-off benefit performances in 1972 and 1978. Following their second reunion, they began to tour consistently, continuing to perform until Ms. Travers’s passing. In the ensuing years, Mr. Yarrow and Mr. Stookey occasionally played together.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Stookey referred to Mr. Yarrow as his “creative, irrepressible, spontaneous and musical younger sibling,” while also noting that he came to “appreciate and love the mature wisdom and inspiring mentorship he provided to me like an elder brother.”

“Perhaps Peter represented both siblings I never possessed,” Mr. Stookey expressed, “and I will profoundly miss both aspects of him.”

In 2000, Mr. Yarrow was instrumental in establishing Operation Respect, a nonprofit organization focused on addressing bullying and fostering tolerance among youth.

Later in his life, he frequently performed with his daughter and the cellist Rufus Cappadocia in a trio named Peter, Bethany and Rufus. Their success reaffirmed Mr. Yarrow’s conviction in his chosen musical genre.

“I believe folk music has positively influenced the decency, humanity, and empathy of society,” he conveyed to Reuters in 2008. “Peter, Paul and Mary had a vast audience, some of whom did not align with our political views. However, they were moved by the human essence of our songs.”

Ash Wu contributed reporting.