Biography
Born Dorothy Van Gorder in 1906 to Arthur Grant Van Gorder and Jessie Van Gorder of Berkeley, California, she showed an early aptitude for learning, art, dance, and theater. She graduated from high school as class valedictorian in less than 3 years. Then at California School of Arts and Crafts, she once again graduated in 3 years and was again class valedictorian. In 1927, just after her graduation, she was hired as an artist at Foster & Kleiser Advertising in San Francisco. Dorothy and her husband Otis were hired by Philip K. Wrigley to be the creative team for all of his corporate interests. In 1936 Wrigley asked Dorothy to spearhead the development of newly acquired advertising space in Times Square in New York City. She designed a massive neon Wrigley display – eight stories tall and one block long – one of the largest neon installations ever built, even to this day. The sign depicted a fish blowing bubbles as part of the advertisement for Wrigley chewing gum. The next year, she won a National Advertising Council Award for the billboard. She also won a prize for her advertisement forPersonal life
She married Otis Shepard in 1929. While they would reunite later in life, Dorothy divorced Otis in the 1940s. They came to be together again in the early 1960s, remaining together until Otis’s death in 1969. Dorothy Shepard died in December 2000, in Belvedere, CA.Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Dorothy 1906 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American illustrators American women illustrators Women in advertising American graphic designers American women graphic designers