Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary, Known for “Puff the Magic Dragon,” Dies at 86

Lauren Novak January 7, 3:18 pm

Vocalist Peter Yarrow, best known for singing with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, died at the age of 86 on January 7, 2025. Yarrow died of bladder cancer after being diagnosed four years ago. He wrote or cowrote many of the trio’s songs including the popular “Puff, the Magic Dragon” (said to be about the loss of childhood imagination and not marijuana) and other politically charged songs such as “The Great Mandella” and “Day Is Done.”

Now, Paul Stookey is the last surviving member of the group. Mary Travers died in 2009 from luekemia. After the news broke of Yarrow’s death, Stookey said that his “creative, irrepressible, spontaneous and musical younger brother” was someone he “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. Perhaps Peter was both of the brothers I never had and I shall deeply miss both of him.”

American singer and songwriter Peter Yarrow performing at the Newport Folk Festival at Freebody Park on Rhode Island, USA, 23rd-26th July 1964

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Born on May 31, 1938, in New York City, he discovered a passion for singing while in college. He pursued a law career, but found success in the ’60s with the trio. The group had six Top 10 singles in the United States, and their No. 1 hit was a cover of John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”

However, his life wasn’t without controversy. While the trio’s songs were about making a better world, Yarrow found himself in trouble when he was convicted and served three months in prison for “taking indecent liberties with a minor” in 1970. He was pardoned by former President Jimmy Carter in 1981.

American Folk musician Peter Yarrow plays acoustic guitar as he performs, during the Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee's October 2017 Conference, at the Western Presbyterian Church, Washington DC, October 21, 2017. The Conference, titled 'From Protest to Resistance,' marked the 50th anniversary of the March on the Pentagon

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In his later years, Yarrow performed with his daughter Bethany Yarrow, and cellist Rufus Cappadocia, as Peter, Bethany and Rufus. Sometimes, he performed with Bethany and his son Christopher at events around the country. He is survived by his wife, Mary Beth McCarthy, and his children.