Norman Bridwell, who created the popular children’s book Clifford the Big Red Dog, has died. He was 86.

Norman Bridwell Dies

Bridwell passed away on Friday, Dec. 12 in Martha’s Vineyard Hospital in Massachusetts after a fall at his home in Edgartown, reported the Boston Globe.

“Norman Bridwell’s books about Clifford, childhood’s most lovable dog, could only have been written by a gentle man with a great sense of humor,” Scholastic Chairman and CEO Dick Robinson said in a statement. “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 50 years.”

Since the first Clifford book was published in 1963, Bridwell went on to produce 150 titles in total, selling 129 million books in 13 languages and served to inspire the PBS TV series. Prior to his passing, Bridwell had completed two additional titles – Clifford Goes to Kindergarten and  Clifford Celebrates Hanukkah – which will hit bookshelves next year. A movie based on Bridwell’s storybook character is in the works and slated for a 2016 release.

“A woman once asked me about my process in writing it,” Bridwell said in a 2004 interview with the Globe. “and I said, ‘No process at all. He just seems like the kind of dog it would be fun to own.’ ”

Bridwell is survived by his wife Norma, daughter Emily Elizabeth, son Timothy and three grandchildren.