Peter Yarrow, the singer-songwriter, activist and founding member of the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, died on Tuesday, his representative confirms. He was 86.

Yarrow died at his home in New York City after a four-year battle with bladder cancer, his publicist Ken Sunshine told USA TODAY.

“Our fearless dragon is tired and has reached the final chapter of his amazing life,” Yarrow’s daughter Bethany said in a statement released by Sunshine. “The world knows Peter Yarrow, the legendary folk activist, but the man behind the legend is just as generous, creative, passionate, playful and wise as his lyrics suggest.”

Alongside Paul Stookey and Mary Travers, Yarrow created and contributed compositions to Peter, Paul and Mary. The folk revival of the early 1960s catapulted the group to stardom, as the trio found success with original songs like “Puff, the Magic Dragon” and “Norman Normal” by Yarrow and Stookey, as well as Bob Dylan classics like “The Times They Are a-Changin’” and “Blowin’ in the Wind”.

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Stookey, the last surviving member of the group, remembered Yarrow’s influence and “guidance” through music and life.

“Because I was an only child and grew up without siblings, I may have had my parents’ full attention, but with the education of Peter, Paul and Mary, I suddenly had a brother named Peter Yarrow,” Stookey said in a statement on Tuesday. “He was best man at my wedding and I was at his. He was a loving ‘uncle’ to my three daughters. And although his comfort in the city and my love of the country tended to separate us geographically, our different perspectives were often celebrated in our friendship and our music.”

Although Stookey was five months older than Yarrow, he said his bandmate “became my creative, irrepressible, spontaneous and musical younger brother – but at the same time I became grateful for, and loved, the wisdom beyond his years.” ” and inspiring leadership that he shared with me like an older brother. Politically astute and emotionally vulnerable, Peter may have been one of the two brothers I never had… and I will miss him both deeply.”

The group broke up in 1970 to pursue solo ventures, but reunited throughout the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s until Travers’ death in 2009.

In lieu of flowers, Yarrow’s daughter asked for donations to his anti-bullying program Operation Respect. A memorial service will be announced at a later date, Sunshine confirmed.

This story is developing.