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Doug Moe: A Madison sculptor’s dramatic four-year effort to complete a work

Early Saturday morning, only hours after Francis had at last completed the sculpture, and just a few days before it was to be installed in the lobby of Restaurant Magnus on East Wilson Street, Francis suffered heart failure and wound up in the Madison Veterans Hospital. It was from a fourth-floor bed there, Wednesday morning, that Francis was monitoring â?? by cell phone â?? the installation process. His good friend John Wiley â?? the former UW-Madison chancellor and a talented sculptor himself â?? was standing outside in front of Magnus, pacing like an expectant father. Wiley would oversee the installation in Francisâ??s absence.