Sheldon Harnick, Legendary Lyricist of Fiddler on the Roof & She Loves Me, Dies at 99

Sheldon Harnick, the Tony Award-winning lyricist whose contributions to the American theater include the beloved musicals Fiddler on the Roof and She Loves Me, died of natural causes on June 23 ar his home in Manhattan, according to a spokesperson. He was 99.

Sheldon Mayer Harnick was born on April 30, 1924 in the Chicago neighborhood of Portage Park. He started writing music while attending Carl Schurz High School, and after serving in the army, attended the Northwestern University School of Music, graduating in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in music.

After lending his talent to a variety of Chicago-area orchestras, Harnick relocated to New York City and began writing for revues and musicals, including his Broadway debut, Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952 (1952), and additional main-stem projects Two's Company (1952), John Murray Anderson's Almanac (1953) and The Littlest Revue (1956).

Harnick was soon acquainted with composer Jerry Bock, launching a partnership that would result in some of the most iconic musicals in Broadway history.

Their first collaboration, The Body Beautiful (1958), played just 60 performances, but it was followed by the hit Fiorello! (1959), which would earn them the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Drama (with book writers Jerome Weidman and George Abbott) and the 1960 Tony Award for Best Musical, tied with The Sound of Music.

Two of Harnick's most known musicals debuted on Broadway back to back. She Loves Me (1963)—featuring lyrics by Harnick, music by Bock and a book by Joe Masteroff (who adapted the show from Miklos Laszlo's play)—netted a Tony nomination for Best Musical with director Harold Prince and producers Lawrence N. Kasha and Philip C. McKenna.

Next came Fiddler on the Roof (1964), with lyrics by Harnick, music by Bock and a book by Joseph Stein, also directed by Prince. The unexpected hit based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem took home nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, including a trophy for Bock and Harnick's score. Fiddler ran through 1972, accruing a total of 3,242 performances and, at the time, becoming the longest-running show in Broadway history.

Among Harnick's other acclaimed Broadway musicals are the Tony-nominated The Apple Tree (1967), for which he penned the book and lyrics to Bock's music; The Rothschilds, featuring a Tony-nominated score by Bock and Harnick; and Cyrano—The Musical (1993), which earned Harnick a Tony nomination for his additional lyrics with Koen Van Dijk.

In 2016, both She Loves Me and Fiddler appeared on Broadway in acclaimed Tony-nominated revivals. At that year's Tony Awards ceremony, Harnick was honored with a Special Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Harnick was married to Mary Boatner from 1950 to 1957 (after an annulment had been declared). From 1962 to 1963, he was married to Tony-winning performer Elaine May. In 1965, he married Margery Gray, who survives him along with their children, Matthew and Beth.