Breaking News: Peter Yarrow, Grammy-Winning Musician of Peter, Paul and Mary Fame, Dies at 86…see more

Peter Yarrow, the singer-songwriter and activist whose work in Peter, Paul and Mary made him one of the most beloved folk acts of the 1960s, has died.

He was 86. Yarrow died of bladder cancer on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at his home in New York City, PEOPLE confirms. They continued: “There is Peter Yarrow the folk activist legend, and then there is the man, a deeply compassionate man, who changed the lives of so many people in very personal ways.”

Peter, Paul and Mary were known for hits like “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” “Day is Done” and “Light One Candle,” and had a No. 1 hit with a cover of John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”

They also recorded a popular cover of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which they performed in 1963 at the March on Washington led by Martin Luther King, Jr. “I was stunned by the extraordinary effect that music of conscience can have on people, particularly when they sing songs of conscience together,” he said.