PASSINGS : Timothy S. Mayer; Playwright, Director, Lyricist

Timothy S. Mayer, 44, a playwright, theater director and lyricist who was nominated for a Tony Award for writing the book for the hit musical “My One and Only.” In 1981, he staged “Aladdin,” a musical he co-wrote with the late composer Peter Ivers. It was staged at the Agassiz Theater in Cambridge, Mass., which Mayer had co-founded at the age of 22. His Tony nomination came for the 1982-83 Broadway season. “My One and Only,” which premiered on Broadway in May, 1983, starred model-turned-actress Twiggy and dancer-actor Tommy Tune in a boy-meets-girl plot wrapped around 17 George Gershwin tunes. Mayer was associate director of the Boston Shakespeare Company and in 1984, with Peter Sellars, staged the widely acclaimed production of Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage.” In 1985, he was associate director of the American National Theater and directed its first production, Part I of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV,” at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Mayer wrote the lyrics for “Home by Another Way” on James Taylor’s current album. He also co-wrote, with Donald Fagen, “Century’s End,” a song performed by Fagen in the movie “Bright Lights, Big City.” At the time of his death, Mayer was working on a play about Rip Van Winkle. In Linlithgo, N.Y., of cancer on Saturday.