Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, a Polish composer, who won an Oscar in 2005, died on Tuesday, May 21, in Krakow, the Polish Music Foundation announced. 71-year-old had suffered from Multiple System Atrophy, a rare degenerative neurological disorder. He won the Oscars for Finding Neverland.

Who is Jan A.P. Kaczmarek?

He was an acclaimed composer who had written scores for more than 70 feature movies and documentaries. He was born in 1953 in Konin, Poland. He studied music from an early age but graduated with a law degree from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Last year, his daughter stated that the composer was suffering from multiple system atrophy, for which there is no cure.

All you need to know about Jan Andrzej Paweł Kaczmarek's career

Jan started his musical career with Jerzy Grotowski in the late 1970s. He recorded his first album, Music for the End in 1982, for the United States (US) company Flying Fish Records. He composed music both in Europe and Hollywood movies such as Total Eclipse, Bliss, Aimée & Jaguar, Finding Neverland, Hachiko: A Dog's Story, Joanna, Paul and Apostle of Christ.

Apart from movies, he also composed music for TV shows such as Empty Cradle, A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story, Pinocchio and The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler. He last composed a music for the 2020 film Magnezja.

He rose to global fame when he won the Oscar for Best Original Score in the biographic fantasy Finding Neverland inspired by the life of J.M. Barrie, starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet.

In 1989, he moved to Los Angeles, but towards the end of his life, he lived in Krakow in southern Poland. The late music composer is survived by his second wife Aleksandra Twardowska-Kaczmarek and five children.