Departures: 1960s folk singer-songwriter dies at 86

Peter Yarrow

One-third of the famed folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary whose popularity marked the crescendo of the American folk music revival, Yarrow died Jan. 7. He was 86. Yarrow began as a minor figure in the folk scene until a 1960 meeting with manager Albert Grossman, who encouraged the formation of a trio. The ensemble featuring Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers found early success at New York clubs, but they became stars with their 1963 release “Puff, the Magic Dragon”—a song Yarrow co-wrote while in college. The group split in 1970 when Yarrow was convicted of sexually assaulting a minor girl. The trio re-formed after Yarrow secured a presidential pardon from Jimmy Carter in 1981.

Wayne Osmond

A musician and composer whose baritone voice and guitar work helped anchor one of the early 1970s’ most popular groups, Osmond died Jan. 1 at the age of 73. While still a boy, Osmond began singing in his family’s band (billed as the Osmond Brothers) around their home in Ogden, Utah. The group got its first big break while performing at Disneyland in California in 1962, and by 1971, the Osmonds (as they came to be known) had charted a No. 1 hit in “One Bad Apple,” a song originally written for the Jackson 5. The group’s popularity spawned an animated television show and a pair of rock albums on which Osmond earned multiple writing credits. He stopped regularly performing with the group in 2012 following a stroke.

Greg Gumbel

An award-winning sports broadcaster whose ubiquity made him synonymous with televised sports coverage for more than 50 years, Gumbel died Dec. 27. He was 78. Gumbel first rose to prominence as a play-by-play announcer and studio show host in New York City where he won a local Emmy Award. By 1989, Gumbel’s easy manner earned him a spot in the national spotlight and a gig with CBS Sports. For CBS, he called football games—including two Super Bowls—from the play-by-play booth, hosted the network’s studio coverage, and anchored CBS’ Olympic coverage in 1992 and 1994. Gumbel was also well known to basketball fans, hosting CBS’ studio coverage of March Madness from 1998 until 2023.

Rickey Henderson

Arguably the greatest leadoff hitter in the history of baseball whose combination of power and speed bedeviled pitchers for 25 seasons, Henderson died Dec. 20. He was 65. Henderson broke Lou Brock’s career mark for stolen bases in 1991 at age 32. From then until his last big league appearance in 2003, he would steal another 467 bases, good enough by itself for a Top 50 career finish. His 81 leadoff home runs and 2,295 runs scored are both all-time records. The 1990 MVP won a pair of World Series championships. In his later career, Henderson found it difficult to hang up his spikes, playing for big league clubs—and a few independent league teams—before his ultimate retirement from competition in 2005.

Anita Bryant

A singer, advertising pitch woman, and early lightning rod in America’s culture war, Bryant died Dec. 16. She was 84. Before graduating from high school, Bryant became a local celebrity as a young singer on tele­vision in her native Oklahoma City. She gained notoriety in the 1960s releasing albums of show tunes and gospel music, but also became known for her TV commercials pitching orange juice for Florida Citrus. Bryant’s popularity waned when she turned to political activism in the 1970s, launching a crusade against a 1977 Miami-Dade County ordinance that banned discrimination against homosexuals. A boycott of the products she marketed ultimately forced her into bankruptcy. She later led Anita Bryant Ministries International.

Charles Dolan

A media pioneer whose innovations helped cement cable television’s place in American culture and also earned him billions of dollars, Dolan died Dec. 28. He was 98. Dolan started Cablevision in 1973, linking about 1,500 customers to a nascent cable television network. In the same decade, he launched Home Box Office, bringing unedited movies and sporting events directly into subscribers’ living rooms. As his cable business succeeded, Dolan created or purchased more media and entertainment entities. In 1984, he launched the cable channel American Movie Classics. In the ensuing decades, his company would come to control the Long Island newspaper Newsday, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks, and the New York Rangers.

Virgil Wood

A pastor and civil rights leader considered one of the last living lieutenants of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., Wood died Dec. 28. He was 93. From 1958 to 1963, Wood pastored the Diamond Hill Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., where he became involved in civil rights demonstrations against restaurants refusing service to black residents. Wood organized King’s visit to Lynchburg in 1962, forming an association with the icon that led to his ascension to the board of King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. While in Boston pursuing a graduate degree from Harvard University, Wood led demonstrations against de facto school segregation in the northern city. Before his retirement, Wood spent more than 50 years in the pulpit.

Jean-Marie Le Pen

A far-right French political leader with a tarnished reputation who nevertheless vexed mainstream opponents for decades, Le Pen died Jan. 7 at the age of 96. Le Pen made waves in French politics for downplaying the Holocaust and attempting to rehabilitate the reputation of Marshal Philippe Péetain, the leader of the Vichy regime that collaborated with the Nazis. In 1972, Le Pen established National Front (now National Rally). He ran for president five times but advanced to the second round of voting just once. Despite his baggage, he grew the party into a credible force, giving up leadership in 2011. By 2015, his daughter and successor, Marine Le Pen, expelled him from the party in order to appeal to more moderate French voters.