Milton Theodore Okun was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 23, 1923. He spent summers at a resort his parents ran in the Adirondacks, where singers like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie performed. He received a bachelor's degree in music education from New York University and a master's degree in music from Oberlin College. He worked as a junior high school music teacher for years, recorded several folk albums of his own, and worked with Harry Belafonte during a summer tour. He stopped teaching when he became a pianist, conductor, and arranger for Belafonte in the 1950s.
Okun founded Cherry Lane Music Publishing in 1960. He was a producer and arranger for Peter, Paul and Mary, John Denver, and Plácido Domingo. He also produced Laura Nyro's first album More Than a New Discovery and the Starland Vocal Band's hit Afternoon Delight, and conducted Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, and the orchestra that accompanied him, on his album Haneshama Lach. Okun he wrote a memoir entitled Along the Cherry Lane: Tales from the Life of Music Industry Legend Milton Okun with his son-in-law Richard Sparks. He died on November 15, 2016 at the age of 92.
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