Jerry Bock, the Tony-award winning composer who famously wrote the score to the musical 'Fiddler on the Roof', has died of heart failure aged 81, reports ABC News. Bock passed away at the Northern Westchester Medical Center in Mount Kisco New York four days after suffering from a stroke.
Many of his compositions for 'Fiddler' became well known songs in their own right, such as 'If I Were a Rich Man', 'Matchmaker, Matchmaker', and 'Sunrise, Sunet'. The musical debuted in 1964 and immediately gained critical acclaim. It ran for a further six years and has since been performed countless times on Broadway and on tour. Bock worked closely with creative partner and lyricists SHELDON HARNICK, and the pair produced a number of successful scores, most notably for 'She Loves Me', 'Fiorello!', and 'The Rothschilds'. However, the duo fell out in 1970 and Bock's career on Broadway never recovered.
The composer's death comes only two weeks after the passing of Joseph Stein, the 'Fiddler on the Roof' librettist, who died on 24th October 2010 at the age of 98 after suffering from prostate cancer.