Prominent sculptor, Neil Estern, has been commissioned by the Pepper Foundation to create a sculpture of Claude Pepper that will greet visitors to the Pepper Center. Estern recently created the stunning bronze sculptures of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.
It is no coincidence that Estern has been asked to complete the sculpture of Pepper, a lifelong supporter of Roosevelt and of his New Deal programs. In the late 1980s, Senator Pepper was the leading campaigner for the construction of the controversial Roosevelt Memorial. He felt so strongly about the Memorial that Pepper left his sickbed in a D.C. hospital, where he was already dying of cancer, and made an passionate plea before the House Appropriations Committee to approve the funding for the project. The Pepper Foundation believes that Claude Pepper would feel honored to know that the sculptor who created the marvelous likeness of FDR has been commissioned to create a likeness of the Senator.
