City Museum founder Cassilly dies at Cementland site

Will be updated. (Details of updates at bottom of post)

Updated 1:03 p.m. with links to panoramas of Cementland site. Updated at 1:14 p.m with links to public artwork archive and 1:30 p.m with link to radio show archive. Updated 2:06p.m. with statement from Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis. 2:54 p.m. with vigil information.

Bob Cassilly, the founder of  St. Louis landmark City Museum, has died at the age of 61.

Cassilly was found in a bulldozer at the site of his new project, Cementland, in St. Louis.

Mayor Francis Slay tweeted just before noon: "The City has lost some of its wonder. RIP Bob Cassilly. #fgs" in response to hearing the news.

On its website the City Museum describes Cassilly as "a classically trained sculptor and serial entrepreneur."

Earlier, a report of a fatal accident at the Cementland site was released, however, it later was announced that Cassilly was the man who had died.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on the situation in which Cassilly was found at the accident site:

Capt. Dan Sutter of the St. Louis Fire Department described the victim as an older man. Co-workers of the victim found him dead inside the bulldozer's cabin, which was enclosed by a metal grate. The bulldozer was upright.

Homicide detectives with the St. Louis Police Department arrived on the scene as a matter of protocol and not because police found anything suspicious.

Sutter later told St. Louis Public Radio that the bulldozer was on a hill and that OSHA was also investigating. "City Museum makes you want to know," Cassilly said on the museum's website. "The point is not to learn every fact, but to say, 'Wow, that’s wonderful.' And if it’s wonderful, it’s worth preserving." Cong. William Lacy Clay released the following statement on Cassily's death: 

So sorry to hear about the passing of a St. Louis creative legend...creator and founding director of the amazing City Museum on Washington Avenue...Bob Cassilly. My thoughts and prayers go out to Bob's family, and our entire community thanks him for his vision, talent and faith in the future of St. Louis. He will be sorely missed.

• There is a vigil planned for Cassilly on Monday night at 7:30 at the City Museum
• You can see the Cementland site through these panoramas, one posted Sept. 8 and another Sept. 23, from @cassillycrew, who describe themselves as "the Crew, the personal build monkeys of creator Bob Cassilly." The @cassillycrew Twitter feed is displayed on the bottom portion of the City Museum website.
•  An archive of Bob Cassilly's public artwork online from The St. Louis Regional Arts Commission
• A 1999 interview with Cassilly (:11 into the second hour) on Wisconsin Public Radio's show Whad'Ya Know. The interview was done live at Powell Hall in St. Louis.
• There is also a rememberance page for Cassilly up on Facebook, which includes photos of his artwork.
• An interview with Cassilly on a program sponsored by the St. Louis Convention and Visitor's Commission (begins at 1:22)