A memorial service will be held in the summer of 2015 and a complete obituary will follow in a future edition of The Times.Īrrangements are under the care of the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home, Edgartown Road, Oak Bluffs. He was the husband of Norma (Howard) Bridwell and father of Tim Bridwell and Emily Bridwell Merz. Norman Bridwell gave generously of his time and was an annual contributor to the Possible Dreams auction, the major fundraiser for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, the Island’s social services umbrella agency. Three weeks after submitting his story and illustrations to Scholastic Books, the publishers called with an offer to publish his work.įorty titles and 60 million copies later, Clifford the Big Red Dog is a well-known and beloved character to the preschool set. With that settled, Norman Bridwell decided to name the little girl in his book after his own daughter, Emily Elizabeth, and within a few days he completed his story. She suggested the name Clifford, after an imaginary play friend from her own childhood. Bridwell wanted to name the dog Tiny, but his wife thought the name too boring. Clifford the Small Red Dog By Norman Bridwell. He decided to make the dog very big and more of a general, all-around dog instead of a bloodhound. Buy the whole collection of books in the Clifford the Big Red Dog series online from World of Books. Because of his young daughter, Bridwell chose to write a story about an illustration he had made of a little girl and a big red bloodhound.

An editor at Harper & Row advised him that he might find success by writing a story about one of his pictures. He considered supplementing his income by illustrating picture books. Bridwell found himself having to support a wife and infant daughter on extra money he picked up doing freelance artwork. He studied at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis and Cooper Union Art School in New York before working as a commercial artist for 12 years. Norman Bridwell was born in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1928, according to a biography by Scholastic Books. Norman Ray Bridwell of Edgartown, who brought delight to millions of readers young and old as the author of Clifford the Big Red Dog series of books, died on Friday, December 12, at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

Big red dog created by norman bridwell