Thomas Andrew Lehrer (April 9, 1928 – July 26, 2025) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician. He recorded pithy and humorous, often political songs that became popular in the 1950s and 1960s. His early performances dealt with non-topical subjects and black humour in songs such as “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park”. In the 1960s, he produced songs about timely social and political issues, particularly for the U.S. version of the television show That Was the Week That Was. The popularity of these songs has far outlasted their topical subjects and references. In the early 1970s, Lehrer largely retired from public performance to devote his time to teaching mathematics and musical theater history at the University of California, Santa Cruz.