Charles Louis Strouse, an American composer and lyricist best known for writing the music to the Broadway musicals Bye Bye Birdie for which he won his first Tony Award for Best Musical,  Applause, which gave him his second Tony Award,  and Annie, his third,  died on May 15 in Manhattan, at 96.

Annie, which included the song, “Tomorrow,” which quickly became a song hit and, in addition to his third Tony Award, garnered him two Grammy Awards. Strouse won Emmy Awards for music for television. He was also the recipient of the 1999 ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award, and the Oscar Hammerstein Award. He became a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame in and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

His happy childhood memories later inspired the credits roll for “All In The Family” in which Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton sit at the piano, singing together.