Tom Bodkin

Tom Bodkin (born 1953) is a retired American newspaper editor who worked for many years as design director and chief creative officer of The New York Times.

Background Bodkin, who was born in New York City and grew up in Great Neck, New York, graduated from John L. Miller Great Neck North High School in 1971, where he was editor-in-chief of the award-winning school newspaper. After brief stints with various outlets, including The Village Voice and CBS with Lou Dorfsman, he joined The New York Times in 1980.

Bodkin helped develop the newspaper's website, brought color photography to the front page in 1997, In 2003, he introduced a modified version of Cheltenham as the standard typeface for the paper. He also led the team that created the Times Reader, a digital version of the newspaper created in collaboration with Microsoft.

Later in his career, Bodkin helped design the front page on May 24, 2020, which contained nothing except a headline and brief introduction before six columns of uninterrupted text identifying 1,000 people in the United States who died from COVID-19 during the pandemic. Inspired by the design of old newspapers, it was the only front page from his tenure at the Times which contained no images.

Bodkin retired from the Times in 2024; the last front page he designed was the February 29 edition.

Personal life , Bodkin lives in Stone Ridge, New York.