David govedare biography

David Govedare, the sculptor of the Bloomsday runner statues in Riverfront Park as well as many other works seen across the country, died Wednesday. He was 71.

Govedere died of health issues Wednesday morning at the hospital, said local musician Cary Fly, Govedere’s close friend and frequent collaborator.

He is survived by his only son, Forest.

“He was larger than life. A Hemingway-esque figure,” Fly said.

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“He was huge inside and outside and had so much love and all of that inside of him. … He encompassed life in a way that no one else could do because his scope was so huge.

“It’s a big hole,” he added. “It’s something we’re all trying to deal with.”

The fleet of life-sized metal runners that make up Govedare’s 1984 work “The Joy of Running Together” may be “one of the most successful works of public art in our region,” said Karen Mobley, a local visual artis