Morris Michtom

Morris Michtom was a Russian Jewish immigrant, who with his wife Rose invented the Teddy Bear

Teddy bear

The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...

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Mitchtom, who arrived in New York in 1887, was selling candy in his shop at 404 Tompkins Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

 by day and making stuffed animals with his wife Rose at night. The Teddy Bear came about in response to a cartoon by Clifford K. Berryman

Clifford K. Berryman

Clifford K. Berryman was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist with the Washington Star newspaper from 1907-1949. He was also a cartoonist for The Washington Post from 1891-1907....

 depicting Teddy Roosevelt having compassion for a bear at the end of an unsuccessful hunting trip in Mississippi in 1902. After the creation of the bear in 1902, the sale of the bears was brisk that Michtom created the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company .