How do you sum up the work of songwriter Robert B. Sherman? Try one word: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." 
 
 FILE - In this April, 5,1965 file photo actress Debbie Reynolds poses with Academy awards winners for best music Richard M. Sherman, right and Robert Sherman, left, who received the award for Mary Poppins... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Nov. 17,2008 file photo President George W. Bush, right, greets song writer Robert Sherman, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, as he presents him with the 2008 National... (Associated Press) 
 
 The tongue-twisting term, sung by magical nanny Mary Poppins, is like much of Sherman's work _ both complex and instantly memorable, for child and adult alike. Once heard, it was never forgotten. 
 
 Sherman, who died in London at age 86, was half of a sibling partnership that put songs into the mouths of nannies and Cockney chimney sweeps, jungle animals and Parisian felines. 
 
 Robert Sherman and his brother Richard composed scores for films including "The Jungle Book," "The Aristocats," "Mary Poppins" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." They also wrote the most-played tune on Earth, "It's a Small World (After All)." 
 
 Sherman's agent, Stella Richards, said Tuesday that Sherman died peacefully in London on Monday. 
 
 Son Jeffrey Sherman paid tribute to his father on Facebook, saying he "wanted to bring happiness to the world and, unquestionably, he succeeded." 
 
 Jeffrey Sherman told The Associated Press that his father had learned the craft of songwriting from his own father, Tin Pan Alley composer Al Sherman. 
 
 "His rule in writing songs was keep it singable, simple and sincere," Jeffrey Sherman said. "In the simplest things you find something universal." 
 
 Robert Sherman knew another truth, his son said: "What seems so simple is really very complex. 
 
 "He was a very simple guy _ complex but simple. If you ever want to know about my Dad, listen to the lyrics of his songs." 
 
 Robert A. Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Co., said in a statement that the company mourned the loss of "one of the world's greatest songwriters and a true Disney legend." Three Broadway marquees _ including The New Amsterdam Theatre, where "Mary Poppins" is playing _ will dim their lights Tuesday night in Sherman's honor. 
 
 The Sherman Brothers' career was long, prolific and garlanded with awards. They won two Academy Awards for Walt Disney's 1964 smash "Mary Poppins" _ best score and best song, "Chim Chim Cher-ee." They also picked up a Grammy for best movie or TV score. 
 
 Their hundreds of credits as joint lyricist and composer also include the films "Winnie the Pooh," "The Slipper and the Rose," "Snoopy Come Home," "Charlotte's Web" and "The Magic of Lassie." Their Broadway musicals included 1974's "Over Here!" and stagings of "Mary Poppins" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" in the mid-2000s. 
 
 "Something good happens when we sit down together and work," Richard Sherman told The Associated Press in a 2005 joint interview. "We've been doing it all our lives. Practically since college we've been working together." 
 
 The brothers' awards included 23 gold and platinum albums and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They became the only Americans ever to win First Prize at the Moscow Film Festival for "Tom Sawyer" in 1973 and were inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 2005. 
 
 President George W. Bush awarded them the National Medal of Arts in 2008, commended for music that "has helped bring joy to millions." 
 
 Alan Menken, composer of scores for Disney films including "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin," said the Sherman brothers' legacy "goes far beyond the craft of songwriting." 
 
 "There is a magic in their songs and in the films and musicals they breathed life into," he said Tuesday. 
 
 Robert Bernard Sherman was born in New York on Dec. 19, 1925, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California. 
 
 The brothers credited their father with challenging them to write songs and for their love of lyrics. Al Sherman's legacy of songs includes "You Gotta Be a Football Hero," "(What Do We Do On a) Dew-Dew-Dewy Day" and "On the Beach at Bali-Bali." 
 
 Robert Sherman's affection for Britain was nurtured during his service with the U.S. Army in World War II. One of the first American soldiers to enter the Dachau concentration camp _ and, his son said, the only Jewish serviceman there _ he was shot in the knee in Germany in 1945. 
 
 Recovering in hospitals in England, he developed a fondness for and familiarity with the country that stuck with him. He wrote for British characters in "Mary Poppins," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "Winnie the Pooh," and spent the last years of his life in London. 
 
 After the war, the brothers started writing songs together. They began a decade-long partnership with Disney during the 1960s after having written hit pop songs like "Tall Paul" for ex-Mouseketeer Annette Funicello and "You're Sixteen," later recorded by Ringo Starr. 
 
 Though they were estranged for a number of years, the brothers never completely broke ties. When asked about that, Richard Sherman said: "We're human. We have frailties and weaknesses. But we love each other very much, respect each other." 
 
 They wrote over 150 songs at Disney, including the soundtracks for such films as "The Sword and the Stone," "The Parent Trap," "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," "The Jungle Book," "The Aristocrats" and "The Tigger Movie." 
 
 Most of the songs the Shermans wrote _ in addition to being catchy and playful _ work on multiple levels for different ages, something they learned from Disney. 
 
 "He once told us, early on in our career, 'Don't insult the kid _ don't write down to the kid. And don't write just for the adult.' So we write for grandpa and the 4-year-old _ and everyone in between _ and all see it on a different level," Richard Sherman said. 
 
 The Shermans teased songs out of each other, brainstorming titles and then trying to top each other with improvements. "Being brothers, we sort of short-cut each other," Richard Sherman said. "We can almost look at each other and know, 'Hey, you're onto something, kiddo.'" 
 
 Most of their songs were written quickly, but others took longer. The pair spent two weeks trying to nail down a snappy title for a song sung by the nanny in "Mary Poppins." They considered, and then nixed, "An Apple a Day" and "A Stitch in Time." 
 
 "Nothing was coming," Robert Sherman recalled. Then one day his then-8-year-old son came home from school. "I said, 'How was school?' He said, 'Great. We got the (polio) vaccine today.' I said, 'Oh, did it hurt?' He said, 'No, they just stuck medicine on a lump of sugar.' I went, 'Ohhhh!' That was it!" 
 
 "He came in the next day all glassy-eyed," Richard Sherman recalled. The final lyric would become world famous when it emerged from the lips of Julie Andrews: "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." 
 
 Another of their songs _ "It's a Small World (After All)" _ has become one of the most translated and performed songs on the planet. It plays on a continual, multilingual loop every few minutes at Disney theme parks across the world _ a fact that Disney employees are only too well aware. 
 
 "We've driven teenagers crazy in every language," quipped Robert Sherman. 
 
 Away from the piano, the two raised families and pursued their own interests, yet still lived close to each other in Beverly Hills and continued working together well into their 70s. When "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" came to Broadway in 2005, they added new lyrics and four new songs. 
 
 Robert Sherman moved to Britain in 2002 after the death of his wife Joyce. He is survived by his brother and four children: Laurie, Jeffrey, Andrea and Robert. 
 
 _____ 
 
 Kennedy reported from New York. ||||| Songwriting team Carole King and Gerry Goffin pose in an early promotional photo shot in New York circa 1959. Goffin died June 19, 2014 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 75. (Photo: James Kriegsmann, Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images) 
 
 NEW YORK — Gerry Goffin's name was not as universally known as that of his former wife and songwriting collaborator, Carole King. But the lyrics that Goffin wrote — for such early rock-era classics as Will You Love Me Tomorrow, (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman and Up On the Roof — have remained in the pop canon for decades. 
 
 Goffin — whose death Thursday at 75 was confirmed by his current wife, Michelle — met King, a budding composer, while both were teenagers. Eventually, they would write more than 50 top 40 hits, among them Little Eva's The Loco-Motion, The Drifters' Some Kind of Wonderful and The Monkees' Pleasant Valley Sunday. 
 
 The couple, who were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, split up in 1968. But their relationship and their music came into focus again recently, thanks to Beautiful — The Carole King Musical, which premiered on Broadway this year and recently earned star Jessie Mueller a Tony Award for best leading actress in a musical. 
 
 In a statement, King called Goffin "my first love. He had a profound impact on my life and the rest of the world. Gerry was a good man and a dynamic force, whose words and creative influence will resonate for generations to come." 
 
 A Brooklyn native who studied to be a chemist before teaming up with King, Goffin was inspired by the pre-rock songwriters (many of them also New Yorkers) who helped shape the Great American Songbook, bringing both a playful wit and unabashed sensitivity to his lyrics. 
 
 Goffin collaborated with other songwriters, among them Michael Masser, with whom he crafted such hits as the Oscar-nominated Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To) and Whitney Houston's Saving All My Love For You; Barry Mann (Who Put the Bomp); and Barry Goldberg (I've Got to Use My Imagination). 
 
 "Gerry was one of the greatest lyricists of all time and my true soul brother," Goldberg said in a statement. "I was privileged to have had him in my personal and professional life." 
 
 "His words expressed what so many people were feeling but didn't know how to say," King said in her statement. "If you want to join his loved ones in honoring him, look at the names of the songwriters under the titles of songs. Among the titles associated with me, you'll often find Gerry's name next to mine." 
 
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– Songwriter Robert Sherman is dead at 86, and the AP notes that his life's work might be summed up in the word "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." He and brother Richard wrote that song along with the ubiquitous "It's a Small World (After All)" for Disney. They also wrote the scores for movies such as The Jungle Book, Mary Poppins (including a best-song Oscar for "Chim Chim Cher-ee"), and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And that's just a small sampling. "He was a very simple guy—complex but simple," says son Jeffrey. "If you ever want to know about my dad, listen to the lyrics of his songs."