Clifford the Big Red Dog is a fixture of childhood so it's with a heavy heart to announce its creator Norman Bridwell has passed away.

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On Tuesday, The Martha's Vineyard Times published the author and illustrator's obituary. Bridwell resided in Martha's Vineyard for decades as reported by Inquisitr on Wednesday.

Bridwell died on Dec. 12 at Martha's Vineyard Hospital. He was 86. 

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Bridwell was born in Kokomo, Ind. in 1928, according to a biography by Scholastic Books. 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.

In 1962 Bridwell supported his wife (Norma), infant daughter (Emily Elizabeth) and son Timothy on extra money he picked up doing freelance artwork. He considered supplementing his income by illustrating picture books.

An editor at Harper & Row instructed him that he might find success by writing a story about one of his pictures. Because of his daughter, Bridwell chose to write a story about an illustration he had made of a little girl and a big red bloodhound. He changed the dog to be more of a general, all-around dog instead of a bloodhound. Bridwell wanted to name the dog Tiny, but his wife thought the name was too boring. She suggested the name Clifford, after an imaginary play friend from her own childhood. With that settled, Bridwell decided to name the little girl in his book after his own daughter and within a few days he completed his story. Three weeks after submitting his story and illustrations to Scholastic Books, the publishers called with an offer to publish his work.

Entertainment Weekly reported Tuesday that the Clifford series has been translated into 13 languages, and sold 129 million copies. The big red dog also found a home in television with PBS Kids' animated series, which was on air between 2000 and 2003. Plus, David Bowers is directing a big-screen adaptation, which is set to release on Apr. 8, 2016.

Dick Robinson, Chairman, President and CEO, Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company, said in a release, "At Scholastic, we are deeply saddened by the loss of our loyal and talented friend whose drawings and stories have inspired all of us and generations of children and their parents.

"Norman Bridwell's books about Clifford, childhood's most loveable dog, could only have been written by a gentle man with a great sense of humor. Norman personified the values that we as parents and educators hope to communicate to our children - kindness, compassion, helpfulness, gratitude - through the Clifford stories which have been loved for more than fifty years," he added.

Martha's Vineyard Times further reported that a memorial service will be held in the summer of 2015 and a complete obituary will follow in a future edition of The Times.

EW further reported that Bridwell finished two more Clifford books prior to his passing, both of which will be released in 2015. Clifford Goes to Kindergarten will be out in May, and Clifford Celebrates Hannukah will come out in October.

Tags: Norman Bridwell