Peter Yarrow dead: Puff the Magic Dragon co-writer from trio Peter, Paul & Mary dies aged 86 after bladder cancer battle
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PETER Yarrow, the singer-songwriter best known as one-third of Peter, Paul and Mary, has died aged 86. The legend who also co-wrote the group's most enduring song, Puff the Magic Dragon, died Tuesday in New York, publicist Ken Sunshine said. Yarrow had bladder cancer for the past four years.
![[Peter Yarrow, Mary Travers, and Noel “Paul” Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary pose for a picture circa 1962]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/peter-yarrow-mary-travers-noel-962207565.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The legend's daughter said in a statement: "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.".
![[L-R Noel ‘Paul’ Stookey, Peter Yarrow and Mary Travers of Peter, Paul And Mary pose for a group portrait in 1968]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/l-r-noel-paul-stookey-962207561.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Born May 31, 1938, in New York, Yarrow was raised in an upper middle class family he said placed high value on art and scholarship. He took violin lessons as a child, later switching to guitar as he came to embrace the work of such folk-music icons as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.
![[Peter Yarrow performs at City Vineyard on January 9, 2018]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/peter-yarrow-performs-city-vineyard-962207677.jpg?strip=all&w=640)
Upon graduating from Cornell University in 1959, he returned to New York, where he worked as a struggling Greenwich Village musician until connecting with Stookey and Travers. Although his degree was in psychology, he had found his true calling in folk music at Cornell when he worked as a teaching assistant for a class in American folklore his senior year.
![[Noel ‘Paul’ Stookey, Mary Travers, and Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary share a laugh circa the early-1980s]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/noel-paul-stookey-mary-travers-962207538.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Over the years, Yarrow continued to write and co-write songs, including the 1976 hit Torn Between Two Lovers for Mary MacGregor. He received an Emmy nomination in 1979 for the animated film Puff the Magic Dragon. Later songs include the civil rights anthem No Easy Walk to Freedom, co-written with Margery Tabankin, and Light One Candle, calling for peace in Lebanon.
