March 7, 2012 4:50PM ET

Disney Songwriter Robert Sherman Dead at 86

Wrote ‘It’s a Small World,’ songs for ‘Jungle Book,’ ‘Mary Poppins’

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Richard Sherman (left) and Robert Sherman, who gained fame from numerous Disney film scores pose outside of the Hilton theatre in New York with the original car used in the 1968 film 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'.

Robert Sherman, a songwriter best known for his work for Disney films and attractions, died Monday at age 86. With his brother Richard, Sherman wrote many of Disney’s most memorable tunes, including “It’s a Small World (After All)” and songs for Mary Poppins (for which they won Academy Awards), The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Charlotte’s Web and many others.

In addition to tongue-twisting show tunes like “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” the brothers also wrote pop songs, including Johnny Burnette’s 1960 hit “You’re Sixteen” (later a Number One hit by Ringo Starr). In 2008 the Sherman brothers received the National Medal of Arts from President George W. Bush. “A piece of our childhood has ben taken away,” said film music historian Jon Burlingame.