Paul Granlund

Paul T. Granlund, sculptor-in-residence at Gustavus Adolphus College from 1971 until his retirement in 1996, died on Sept. 15, 2003, in Mankato, Minn. In a creative career spanning more than 50 years and more than 650 works, he had been recognized as a premier sculptor throughout the United States and abroad. His figurative bronze sculptures have been installed in public and private settings from Australia to Italy to India, from Minneapolis to Hong Kong.

Granlund was born on October 6, 1925, in Minneapolis, the son of the Rev. Clarence and Naomi Granlund. A 1952 graduate of Gustavus, he went on to receive an M.F.A. degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in 1954 and in that same year was one of the three Americans awarded Fulbright fellowships to study sculpture in Italy. A fellowship in creative sculpture from the Guggenheim Foundation allowed him to return to Italy, where he stayed from 1957 to 1959. During the 1960s, he was on the faculty of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Granlund won several major competitions for his work, including the Minnesota Governor's competition for a Vietnam War memorial, the Dubuque (Iowa) Five Flags Plaza Bicentennial sculpture competition, and the "International Year of the Adolescent" sculpture competition sponsored by the Wilson Center of Fairbault, Minn. His work has been exhibited at more than 70 one-man shows in galleries and museums in Minneapolis, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and several other cities. In 1987 his sculpture of Charles A. Lindbergh was installed at Le Bourget Field in Paris. Constellation Earth, an eight-foot sphere celebrating the global family, was placed in Peace Park in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1992. Closer to home, castings of his sculptures have been installed at the State Capitol and the World Trade Center in St. Paul, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, at St. Olaf College in Northfield, at the Mayo House in LeSueur, and at Immanuel-St.Joseph's Hospital in Mankato, as well as in a number of churches in the region. More than 30 of his creations have been placed on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus, including the friezes and doors of Christ Chapel.

Granlund is survived by his wife, Edna (Spaeth '50), whom he married in 1950, and four children, Gretchen, Gregory '79, Jonathan '81, and Timothy.