Milton T. Okun, Music Producer for John Denver, Peter, Paul and Mary Dies

BEVERLY HILLS, CA -- Music producer-arranger Milton T. Okun, who worked with John Denver, Placido Domingo and Peter, Paul and Mary among other artists, died Tuesday in Beverly Hills. He was 92.

Okun, who had been in failing health for several years, died at home five weeks shy of his 93rd birthday, according to his son Andrew.

A child prodigy pianist, Okun suffered from nephritis, a kidney disorder, in his early teens and was prescribed bed rest for two years. After recovering, the Brooklyn native found his gift was gone and decided to study music and conducting at Oberlin College in Ohio.

He followed the advice of a conductor and became a music teacher in the New York public school system, thinking he would teach for the rest of his career.

But his love for folk music -- he was part of the folk quartet The Skifflers and also recorded several albums of his own in the 1950s -- drew him into arranging and conducting.

He spent two seasons with Harry Belafonte doing piano arranging and conducting and performing with the Harry Belafonte Singers.

Okun was fired by Belafonte, but the parting proved to be a blessing in disguise, kick-starting his multi-decade career as a music producer.

Under his guidance, Peter, Paul and Mary would become one of the music industry's most successful folk ensembles. Okun also worked with The Brothers Four, The Chad Mitchell Trio and soloists such as Odetta, Laura Nyro, Tom Paxton and John Denver, whom he discovered and guided until the singer's 1997 death in a plane crash.

Okun was known for bringing classical arrangements into the folk/pop idiom, as evidenced with "Perhaps Love," a gold record duet pairing Denver and opera great Domingo.

PBS named Okun as one of the three most important music producers of all time, along with Quincy Jones and Sir George Martin, and he would collect more than 75 gold and platinum records and 16 Grammy Award nominations for his work.

In 1960, Okun and his wife, Rosemary, founded Cherry Lane Music Publishing Co., which grew into one of the largest independent music publishers. He sold Cherry Lane to Sony BMG in 2010.

With his wife, Okun was a founding member and major supporter of the Los Angeles Opera and pivotal in bringing Domingo to Los Angeles as the LAO's artistic director.

He also guided Domingo's crossover career, producing a number of the international star's non-opera recordings.

Okun's career is detailed in a 2011 memoir, "Along the Cherry Lane: Tales from the Life of Music Industry Legend Milt Okun."

In addition to his wife of 58 years, Okun is survived by daughter Jennifer Okun Sparks, her husband Richard Sparks and their daughter Elizabeth; son Andrew, his wife Julia Blanchard and their children, William and Emily Okun; nephews Peter and Michael Primont and Michael Okun, and niece Tema Okun.

Funeral services will be private.

-- City News Service, photo via Sensei48/Wiki Commons