Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938 – January 7, 2025) was an American singer-songwriter and political activist.
Early Life and Family
Peter Yarrow was born on May 31, 1938, in Manhattan, New York City. His parents, Vera and Bernard Yarrow, were educated Ukrainian Jewish immigrants whose families had settled in Providence, Rhode Island.
Bernard was a lawyer and served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Vera was a speech and drama teacher in New York. They divorced when Peter was 5, and Vera subsequently married Harold Wisebrode, the executive director of the Central Synagogue in Manhattan.
Education
Yarrow attended the High School of Music and Art in New York, where he took painting classes and was an honor student. He then entered Cornell University, where he studied physics but later switched to psychology. Peter received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959. He became passionate about folk music while at Cornell.
Career
Yarrow was active in the Greenwich Village folk music scene after college. In 1961, he formed the folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary with Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers. The group found considerable success with songs like “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” which Yarrow co-wrote, and their version of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” They first rose to prominence during the 1960s folk revival, renowned for their harmonizing vocals and political activism. The trio disbanded in 1970 but reunited in 1978 and continued to perform until Travers died in 2009.
Activism and Legal Issues
Yarrow was a dedicated political activist who opposed the Vietnam War and supported civil rights and anti-war movements. The trio’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” performance became an anthem of the civil rights movement. They performed at the 1963 March on Washington, supporting Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
He was convicted in 1970 of taking “indecent liberties” with a minor and spent three months of a 1–3 year prison sentence. He apologized for the incident, saying that “it was an era of real indiscretion and mistakes by categorically male performers. I was one of them. I’m sorry for it.” He was pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1981.
In 2000, he founded Operation Respect, a nonprofit that promotes anti-bullying programs in schools.
Personal Life and Relationships
While campaigning for Eugene McCarthy’s 1968 presidential campaign, Yarrow met McCarthy’s niece, Mary Beth McCarthy. They married in October 1969 and had two children, Christopher and Bethany. The couple divorced but remarried in 2022 and stayed together until Yarrow died. Yarrow acknowledged his struggles with alcoholism and sought treatment, considering himself in recovery.
Yarrow’s daughter, Bethany, is a musician, and they often performed together.
Awards and Honors
Yarrow received several accolades over his career. In 1982, he received the Allard K. Lowenstein Award for fostering human rights, peace, and freedom. In 1995, the Miami Jewish Federation honored him with its Tikkun Olam Award for his work to repair the world. In 1993, the World Folk Music Association honored him with the Kate Wolf Memorial Award.
Yarrow has won five Grammy Awards as a member of the trio. He received an Emmy nomination in 1979 for the animated film Puff the Magic Dragon. The trio was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2009.
Net Worth
At the time of his death, Yarrow had amassed an estimated net worth of $5 million, earning it through his years of music and songwriting royalties.
Death
Peter Yarrow, on January 7, 2025, at 86, after four years of bladder cancer. He died at his Upper West Side apartment in Manhattan, leaving a rich legacy in folk music and activism.
