Marshall Maynard Fredericks was born in Rock Island, Ill., on Jan. 31, 1908, but grew up in Cleveland.

In 1930, he graduated from the Cleveland School of Art and then received a fellowship to study in Stockholm, Sweden, with sculptor Carl Milles, who offered In 1932 to have Fredericks work in his studio at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. This led to Fredericks calling Michigan his home for the rest of his life, embarking on a career of teaching at Cranbrook's Academy of Art and creating renowned sculptures that would beautify the state.

In 1935, a national competition was held to create a monument to Levi L. Barbour, and Fredericks won. The Levi L. Barbour Memorial Fountain was dedicated June 25, 1937, on Belle Isle.

Fredericks enlisted in the Army Corps of Engineers in 1942, and transferred to the Air Force, where he was honorably discharged in 1945 as a lieutenant colonel.

Ten years later, Fredericks would be tapped to sculpt his most famous work of art, "The Spirit of Detroit," to stand in front of what is now known as the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.

From his studio in Royal Oak, Mich., Fredericks would continue working until his death. The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum in Saginaw, Mich., opened in 1988, and has more than 200 Fredericks sculptures, his tools and more.

Fredericks died April 4, 1998. He was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Birmingham, Mich. A sculpture of a leaping gazelle similar to Fredericks' Barbour Monument on Belle Isle marks his grave site.