By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — "Fiddler on the Roof" composer Jerry Bock died early Wednesday morning at the age of 81, according to news reports.
Bock, who wrote one of the most memorable scores in American musical theater history, died of heart failure at the Northern Westchester Medical Centre in Mount Kisco, N.Y., Playbill.com reported.
He lived in Manhattan and is survived by his wife Patti, daughter Portia and son George.
The 1964 score for "Fiddler on the Roof," the story of a Jewish family in pre-Revolutionary Russia, produced the American musical standards "If I Were a Rich Man" and "Matchmaker, Matchmaker," helping the musical win the 1965 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Author and Best Score.
The news comes less than two weeks after "Fiddler" librettist Joseph Stein died at the age of 98.
Bock was also known for "Fiorello!" — a musical about former New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, which won both a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize.
