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

[6] Yarrow's mother, Vera (1904–1991), who had come to the United States at the age of three, became a speech and drama teacher at New York City's Julia Richman Education Complex for girls.

She and Bernard divorced in 1943, when their son Peter was five, and Vera subsequently married Harold Wisebrode, the executive director of the Central Synagogue in Manhattan.

He 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.

[10] 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".

[13] One day, the two were at Israel Young's Folklore Center in Greenwich Village discussing Grossman's idea for a new group that would be "an updated version of the Weavers for the baby-boom generation ... with the crossover appeal of The Kingston Trio."

To fill out the trio, Travers suggested Noel Stookey, a friend doing folk music and stand-up comedy at the Gaslight.

[16] The trio then released "If I Had a Hammer", a 1949 song by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, written to protest the imprisonment of Harlem City Councilman Benjamin J. Davis Jr. under the Smith Act.

[17][18] In June 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary released a 7" single of "Blowin' in the Wind" by the then-relatively unknown Bob Dylan, who was also managed by Grossman.

[20] On August 28, 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary appeared on stage with the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. at his historic March on Washington where their performance of "Blowin' in the Wind" established it as a civil rights anthem.

[22] Yarrow's songwriting helped to create some of Peter, Paul and Mary's best-known songs, including "Puff, the Magic Dragon", "Day Is Done", "Light One Candle", and "The Great Mandala".

In 2008, the musical special Peter, Bethany & Rufus: Spirit of Woodstock, featuring a live performance of the band, aired on public television.

According to The New York Times: As their fame grew, Peter, Paul and Mary mixed music with political and social activism.

The project began as a result of Yarrow and his daughter Bethany and his son Christopher having heard the song "Don't Laugh at Me" (written by Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin) at the Kerrville Folk Festival.

I heard Peter Yarrow singing that song on the steps of the Capitol, in 1987, twenty years ago next week, during the march to free Soviet Jews.

[25][39] Yarrow performed across New York City for volunteers who worked for the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama on November 1, 2008.

[40] Yarrow, his son and his daughter made an appearance at Zuccotti Park during the Occupy Wall Street protests on October 3, 2011, playing songs such as "We Shall Not Be Moved" and a variation of "Puff the Magic Dragon".

His son Christopher is a visual artist who, in the late 2000s, owned an emporium in Portland, Oregon called The Monkey & The Rat.

On August 31, 1969, Winter had gone with her 17-year-old sister, Kathie Berkel, to Yarrow's room at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., seeking an autograph.

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

Yarrow’s attorney argued “the sisters were ‘groupies’ whom he defined as young women and girls who deliberately provoke sexual relationships with music stars,” according to a United Press International report.

[56] Yarrow later expressed regret for the incident, stating: "It was an era of real indiscretion and mistakes by categorically male performers.

[63] In May 2021, The Washington Post wrote that his pardon by Carter, "perhaps the only one in U.S. history wiping away a conviction for a sexual offense against a child—escaped scrutiny when it happened.

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

[1] Yarrow received the Allard K. Lowenstein Award in 1982 for his "remarkable efforts in advancing the causes of human rights, peace, and freedom".