Emmy Award-winning writer and composer Jeffrey A. Moss, who served as head writer and composer for Sesame Street, died of colon cancer on September 25. He was 56.

Born and raised in New York City, Moss began writing p try and music as a child. After graduating from Princeton University, he began his career as a production assistant for the Captain Kangaroo TV series and eventually became a writer for the show. In 1969, Moss began working with Jim Hensen and J Raposo to start Sesame Street. Among other contributions, Moss helped to create the characters of Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch and Guy Smiley.

Moss won 15 Emmy Awards and wrote songs for four Grammy Award-winning recordings. He was nominated for an Academy Award for the songs he composed for The Muppets Take Manhattan. Some of the popular and memorable songs Moss contributed to Sesame Street are "Rubber Duckie," "The People in Your Neighborhood" and "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon."

His children's books include three p try collections, the bestselling The Butterfly Jar (Bantam, 1989), The Other Side of the Door: P ms (Bantam, 1991) and, most recently, Bone P ms (Workman, 1995). In addition, he wrote many Sesame Street titles for Children's Television Workshop and Random House. A memorial service, to be held in New York City, is currently being planned.