Omer George Westendorf

Omer George Westendorf was an American Roman Catholic church musician, poet, hymnal editor, and music publisher born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1916. Educated at the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, he served for four decades as organist and choirmaster of St. Bonaventure Church in Cincinnati. After World War II he brought European Catholic church music back to the United States, an interest that led him to establish the World Library of Sacred Music in 1950 and World Library Publications in 1957.

Westendorf became an important figure in the development of English-language Roman Catholic congregational song during the years surrounding the Second Vatican Council. He wrote hymn texts, adapted older liturgical material, collaborated with composers, and compiled hymnals, including the People's Mass Book, first issued in 1964. His work linked older Catholic liturgical traditions with accessible vernacular congregational singing at a time of rapid change in worship practice.

Among his best-known later works is Gift of Finest Wheat, also known by its refrain title You Satisfy the Hungry Heart. Written in 1976 with music by Robert E. Kreutz, it was selected for the 41st International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia. Westendorf's wider significance lies not in a single hymn but in his combined work as writer, editor, choir director, and publisher within twentieth-century Catholic church music.