"Fly Me to the Moon" composer Bart Howard dead at 88

Bart Howard, a songwriter and pianist best known for his composition "Fly Me to the Moon," died Saturday in Carmel, N.Y. He was 88. The cause was complications from a stroke, said Thomas Fowler, his companion of 58 years. Born in Burlington, Iowa, Howard moved to Los Angeles in 1934 with dreams of writing music for movies. He later relocated to New York, where singer Mabel Mercer added his song "If You Leave Paris" to her repertoire. From 1941 to 1945 he served as a musician in the Army. "Fly Me to the Moon"--also known as "In Other Words"--first gained fame in 1960, when Peggy Lee sang it on The Ed Sullivan Show. Two years later it was a hit in instrumental form for conductor Joe Harnell. His other well-known songs included "Let Me Love You" and "Don't Dream of Anybody but Me." Howard was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999.