Oscar-winning songwriter Richard M Sherman dies at 95

Richard M Sharman, an Oscar-winning studio songwriter, a vocation that has long ceased to exist, has passed away. He was 95.

He died on Saturday due to age-related illness at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills.

He was part of the Sherman brothers along with his sibling Robert B Sherman. The duo have delivered hit songs for Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the iconic Disneyland tune It's a Small World After All.

The brothers were hired by Disney after their hit song "Tall Paul" for Mouseketeer Annette Funicello in 1958. Their credits for the studio include films like "The Parent Trap", "In Search of the Castaways". The worked directly for Walt Disney until his death in 1966.

Robert and Richard Sherman won Oscars on both their nominations for music score and for song "Chim Chim Cher-ee". They have to their name nine Oscars, two Grammy wins, and 23 gold and platinum albums. They were recipients of the National Medal of Arts in 2008, awarded by the then US President George W Bush.

Honouring their work for the studio, Disney released the documentary The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story in May 2009. Later in the year, a two-CD set - The Sherman Brothers Songbook, containing songs made over four decades of their association with Disney was released.

The Sherman brothers were born three years apart from each other. Elder brother Robert, who died in 2012, was born in 1925. Born in 1928, Richard was married to Elizabeth Gluck in 1957, with whom he has two children - Gregory and Victoria. He also has a daughter Lynda Sherman Rothstein from his previous marriage.