Francis Allen Sprout, 77, passed away November 2, 2017. He studied studio art and art education at the University of Arizona (1960s). During his high school and college years he also served in the Arizona National Guard, attending Officer Candidate School where he was promoted to rank of Lieutenant. After graduating college, Francis taught drawing, painting, and sculpture at high schools in Tucson and Santee California. He entered the visual art program at University of California, San Diego in 1970 as a Ford Foundation Fellow and graduated with an MFA in 1972. He taught at the University of Denver from 1972-1974 and in 1973 Francis was selected to represent Colorado in the 74th Western Annual at the Denver Art Museum. Thereafter he taught at Metropolitan State College in Denver, where he was awarded tenure in 1981, and exhibited and lectured throughout Colorado. In 1984 he took a sabbatical leave and enrolled in the African Studies Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. He subsequently received his MA in African Studies from UCLA in 1990. In 1987 he returned to Arizona as an adjunct professor at the west campus of ASU and in 1991 he and his wife moved to New York where Francis established a studio in Port Chester. In addition to studio production, he taught art and art history at Purchase College, Manhattanville College, and Pratt Institute of Art. In 2004 they moved to Vero Beach where his studio work and teaching continued. For many years Francis was represented in Vero Beach by the Admiralty Gallery. He continued offering classes at IRSC and then at the Museum Art School of the Vero Beach Museum of Art until May of this year. His work is represented in the collections of the ASU Museum of Art, the Neuberger Museum of Art as well as many private and corporate collections, including Johnson Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois; Johns Manville Corporation, Atlanta, Georgia and Pfizer Learning Center, Rye Brook, New York. Francis is survived by his wife Cindy, a cousin, a daughter and three grandchildren. A celebration of life was held at the Vero Beach Museum of Art on November 12. Gifts may be made in his memory to the Vero Beach Museum of Art, 3001 Riverside Park Drive, Vero Beach, Florida 32967.