Mike Taylor

Dick Kniss

Bass player with Peter, Paul and Mary

Dick Kniss, 74, who played stand-up bass with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary and co-wrote the John Denver hit "Sunshine on My Shoulders," died Wednesday of pulmonary disease at a hospital near his home in Saugerties, N.Y, said his wife, Diane.

Born in 1937 in Portland, Ore., Kniss was playing in a band led by Woody Herman in New York City before joining Peter, Paul and Mary in 1964. He performed with them throughout the 1960s, rejoined them when they reunited in 1978 and continued to give concerts with them until 2009, the year