MADISON (WORT) — The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s most notorious prankster Leon Varjian died suddenly this week at his home in New Jersey. Varjian is best known in Madison as the college prankster who filled Bascom Hill with plastic pink flamingos, started the annual Halloween party on State Street, and for bringing Lady Liberty to the frozen ice of Lake Mendota.

For the past three decades, Varjian has worked as mathematics teacher in Midland Park, New Jersey. He was 64 years old.

We dug deep into the archives and found a rare interview with Leon Varjian from WORT’s A Public Affair first heard in 1988.