Mary Travers, one-third of '60s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, has died after fighting a long battle with leukemia. She was 72.

According to the group's publicist, Heather Lylis, Travers died Wednesday (9/16) at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut. Her former bandmates, Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey, were effusive with praise at the manner in which the singer dealt with her illness.

"In her final months, Mary handled her declining health in the bravest, most generous way imaginable," Yarrow said in a press statement. "She never complained. She avoided expressing her emotional and physical distress, trying not to burden those of us who loved her, especially her wonderfully caring and attentive husband, Ethan. Mary hid whatever pain or fear she might have felt from everyone, clearly so as not to be a burden."

"Her illness softened her outlook considerably. Her work, her life and friends became more and more precious," said Stookey.

Born in 1936 in Louisville, KY, Travers moved at a young age to New York City with her journalist parents. Growing up, she fell in love with the city's vibrant folk-singing community, and soon began performing with Pete Seeger, who lived in the same apartment building.

Travers appeared with a group called the Song Swappers, backing Seeger on one album and appearing onstage several times with the legendary folksinger. But it was meeting Yarrow and Stookey that put Travers on the road to stardom.

The trio quickly found success during the early '60s, an age of politically informed music. Their version of "If I Had a Hammer" found an audience with young people championing racial equality, and the trio also performed Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" during the 1963 March on Washington.

The group would go on to score a number of hits, including "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Puff (The Magic Dragon)." The latter song was greatly scrutinized by many who insisted the song contained veiled references to smoking marijuana, a charge the trio consistently denied over the years.

Travers recorded five albums during her solo career--which followed the trio's breakup in 1970--debuting with 1971's "Mary." Her most recent solo set was 1978's "It's In Everyone of Us," after which Peter, Paul and Mary reunited, remaining together until Travers' death. The band tallied five Grammy Awards over the decades, and were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

In 2005, Travers underwent what was termed a successful bone marrow transplant and was able to return to performing following the procedure.

"You have to have a sense of humor even in the midst of what can be very frightening," the singer told a Connecticut Post reporter in 2006, two years after she had been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. "And you have to live in the now because if you get trapped into 'what if' or 'I shoulda,' you're not living in the moment, you're not living."

Travers is survived by her husband, Ethan Robbins, and daughters, Alicia and Erika.