Children’s show composer dies

Gary Moskowitz

Donald Alan Siegal, a composer, songwriter and lyricist who wrote

more than 50 songs for the popular television show “Captain

Kangaroo,” has died.

Siegal, who lived in Glendale for about nine years, died Tuesday

of leukemia.

He was 53.

Siegal had undergone chemotherapy for about six months at UCLA

Medical Center, said Otto Vavrin II, Siegal’s representative and

agent.

“He was a lovable human being,” Vavrin said Friday. “He loved what

he did. He had an impact on so many lives through his music and will

continue to impact so many more lives.”

Siegal will be interred today on the East Coast. Memorial services

are being planned in Los Angeles and New York, but no dates have been

set, Vavrin said.

Siegal worked with Jim Henson to write songs for popular

characters like Kermit the Frog, Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird.

Siegal wrote music for the 1978 NBC children’s special, “Alex and

the Wonderful Doo-Wah Lamp,” which was part of the Emmy Award-winning

series, “Unicorn Tales.”

Siegal, a 1972 graduate of New York University, also studied at

the Berklee College of Music and the Mannes College of Music.

Surviving family members include Siegal’s partner, Eve Benskin;

his mother, Molly Siegal; brother, Byron Siegal; and sister-in-law,

Lisa Siegal.