Robert Manookin

Robert P. Manookin was a composer and professor of music composition and theory at Brigham Young University. Several of his compositions were included in the 1985 Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, among them “Thy Will, O Lord, Be Done” (#188), “See the Mighty Priesthood Gathered” (#325), “O Saints of Zion” (#29), “We Have Partaken of Thy Love” (#155), “Rise Up, O Men of God” (#323), “Like Ten Thousand Legions Marching” (#253), and “Rise, Ye Saints, and Temples Enter” (#287). He composed many arrangements of hymns and preferred to use his rich talents to create sacred music and to be of use to the Church of Jesus Christ.

Manookin was born on April 12, 1918. His family came from Armenia. He held a doctorate degree from the University of Utah and a master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He studied under music notables Frank W. Asper, Alexander Schreiner, B. Cecil Gates, and J. Spencer Cornwall.

He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served on the General Church Music Committee. He served as a bishop and also served in his ward and stake as both a music director and pianist. He and his wife, Helene, served a mission for the Church in New Zealand, the Philippines, Australia, and England. He was a stake patriarch in the last years of his life. He died in 1997. He was the father of nine children.