Dr. Steven Monrotus was born in 1949 in Saint Louis. When he was one year old his parents moved to Affton, Missouri, where he grew up. Following graduation from the Affton public schools in 1967 he studied at Southern Illinois University and Washington University where he earned bachelor and doctoral degrees, respectively. He worked as a trusted and respected doctor of dentistry in Missouri for forty-one years until his retirement, was listed in the Guide To America’s Top Dentists, taught part-time at Saint Louis Community College, and served on the courtesy staff of several hospitals. He married Barbara Joan Herzog in 1973, and they have been blessed with four children, nine grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Dr. Monrotus has given of his time to serving youth. During the seven years he was active with the Saint Louis Area Council, B.S.A. he served as an assistant scoutmaster, unit commissioner, assistant district commissioner, and merit badge counselor in twelve separate skill areas. He also served Missouri Job’s Daughters and Missouri DeMolay for several years and received from the latter the Honorary Legion of Honor.
He has been a Missouri Freemason for twenty-seven years and is an endowed member of Saint Francois Lodge No. 234 in Libertyville. While he was serving as its Master in 1999 this Lodge was honored with the Grand Lodge Masonic Service Award. He belongs to the Truman Club, holds memberships in a number of appendant Masonic organizations, and, while serving as Grand High Priest of Missouri 2011-2012 he was responsible for implementing the first Grand Master’s Royal Arch Class in Missouri history and for requesting Missouri fraternal recognition for the Masonic Order of Athelstan. He received the Scottish Rite 33rd degree, the Order of the Purple Cross of York, and was recognized with the Knight York Grand Cross of Honor. He was selected 2004 Missouri Cryptic Mason of the Year and was presented with a General Grand Chapter Silver Distinguished Service Medal in 2014. He has been Missouri custodian for the General Grand Chapter Ephraim Kirby Award since 2014 and was its first Missouri recipient.
As timing would have it Dr. Monrotus is the only Freemason in Missouri history to have served as Grand Musician/Organist for the Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter, Grand Council, and Grand Commandery of Missouri, General Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons International, General Grand Council Cryptic Masons International, York Rite Sovereign College of North America, and the Provincial Grand Court for the United States of America, Masonic Order of Athelstan. At the present time he is serving all eight of these offices, simultaneously. He was appointed Principal Organist of the Saint Louis Scottish Rite Cathedral in 2018 and holds memberships in the American Guild of Organists (A.G.O.), Saint Louis Theatre Organ Society, and American Composers Forum. He is on the Panel of Advisors for the Committee on the New Organist (CONO) of the A.G.O., has performed at over forty Masonic venues, and has written five major collections of compositions for the Organ. These collections have been archived in electronic form with the Missouri Grand Lodge Library and with several other libraries. He is also the webmaster of OrganBench, an online conceptual learning blog for new organists offering a wealth of information, guidance, and encouragement which brethren will find of significant interest.