37 Facts About Peter Yarrow

Peter Yarrow was an American singer and songwriter who found fame as a member of the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary along with Paul Stookey and Mary Travers.

Peter Yarrow was a political activist and supported causes that ranged from opposition to the Vietnam War to school anti-bullying programs.

Peter Yarrow was born in Manhattan on May 31,1938, the son of Vera Wisebrode and Bernard Yarrow.

Peter Yarrow's parents were educated Ukrainian Jewish immigrants whose families had settled in Providence, Rhode Island.

Bernard Peter Yarrow attended the Jagiellonian University and the Odesa University before emigrating to the United States in 1922 at age 23.

Peter Yarrow then maintained a private law practice in New York City until 1938, when he was appointed an assistant district attorney under Thomas E Dewey.

Peter Yarrow was recruited into the Office of Strategic Services, where he served with distinction, in 1944.

Peter Yarrow was a founding board member of the National Committee for a Free Europe, an anti-Communist organization.

Peter Yarrow became a senior vice-president of the CIA-funded Radio Free Europe, an organization he helped found, in 1952.

Peter Yarrow spent the summers of 1951 and 1952 at Interlochen's Music camp.

Peter Yarrow graduated second in his class among male students from New York City's High School of Music and Art, where he had studied painting and received a physics prize.

Peter Yarrow was accepted at Cornell University, where he began as a physics major but soon switched to psychology, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1959.

Peter Yarrow began singing in public during his last year at Cornell while participating in Harold Thompson's popular American Folk Literature course, colloquially known on campus as "Romp-n-Stomp".

The course was "a highlight of late-1950s student life at Cornell," Peter Yarrow later recalled, and singing and guitar-playing skills were prerequisites for enrollment.

Peter Yarrow served as a student instructor for the class and was paid a stipend of $500, leading students in the songs.

Peter Yarrow recalled that when he told Dylan he would make more than $5,000 from the publishing rights, Dylan was speechless.

Peter Yarrow was instrumental in founding the New Folks Concert series at both the Newport Folk Festival and the Kerrville Folk Festival.

Peter Yarrow co-wrote and produced "Torn Between Two Lovers", a number one hit for Mary MacGregor.

Peter Yarrow produced three CBS TV specials based on "Puff the Magic Dragon", which earned an Emmy nomination for him.

In 1978 Peter Yarrow organized Survival Sunday, an antinuclear benefit, and after a period of separation, he was joined by Stookey and Travers.

Peter Yarrow portrayed leftist intellectual Ira Mandelstam in the 2015 film While We're Young.

In 1970, Peter Yarrow was convicted of taking "immoral and improper liberties" with 14-year-old Barbara Winter.

Winter claimed in a sworn statement to police that Peter Yarrow opened the door naked and made her manually stimulate him until he ejaculated.

At his sentencing hearing, held in September 1970, Peter Yarrow contended that Winter was a willing participant, a claim she has consistently refuted.

Peter Yarrow was granted a presidential pardon by Jimmy Carter on January 19,1981, the day before Carter's presidency ended.

For decades, Peter Yarrow avoided mention of the assault, but by the early 2000s, it became a campaign issue for politicians he supported.

Peter Yarrow had long been an activist for social and political causes.

In 2000, in an effort to combat school bullying, Peter Yarrow helped start Operation Respect, a nonprofit organization that brings to children, in schools and camps, a curriculum of tolerance and respect for each other's differences.

Peter Yarrow performed in Ho Chi Minh City at a concert to benefit the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange in 2005; Peter Yarrow pleaded with the Vietnamese for forgiveness of the United States.

Peter Yarrow served on the board of directors of the Connecticut Hospice.

Peter Yarrow performed across New York City for volunteers who worked for the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama on November 1,2008.

Peter Yarrow cited Judaism as one of the roots of his liberal views.

Peter Yarrow did not press charges since the person it was recovered from was not the person who had stolen it.

Peter Yarrow acknowledged being an alcoholic and sought treatment for the disease.

Peter Yarrow died from bladder cancer at his Upper West Side apartment, on January 7,2025, after a month in hospice care.

Peter Yarrow was 86, and was diagnosed with the illness four years prior.

Peter Yarrow was awarded the Kate Wolf Memorial Award by the World Folk Music Association in 1993.