Professor Later Worked At Congressional Research

Clark Frederic Norton, 97, a professor, Senate aide and Congressional Research Service employee, died July 22 of congestive heart failure at his home in Bowie.

Dr. Norton spent 20 years as a college professor before arriving in the Washington area in 1964 as a legislative assistant to Sen. Birch Bayh (D-Ind.).

While in Bayh's office, he worked on the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which governs presidential succession, and contributed to a major federal disaster assistance act. His expertise in that act led him to be transferred to the Senate public works committee in 1971 when an earthquake struck the San Fernando Valley in Southern California.

In 1975, Dr. Norton switched to the Congressional Research Service, which he told his daughter was his favorite job. "Imagine writing the most interesting term papers and having an impact on public policy," he told her.

He was born April 18, 1912, in Ludington, Mich. At the University of Michigan, he received a bachelor's degree in 1935, a master's degree in 1936 and a doctorate in 1940, all in history.

Dr. Norton married and moved to the University of Montana in Missoula, where he worked for two years alongside Mike Mansfield, who later was the Senate majority leader and U.S. ambassador to Japan.

In 1942, Dr. Norton returned to the University of Michigan to teach political science and served on the East Ann Arbor City Council. Six years later, he took a job as an associate professor of political science at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., rising to full professor, director of graduate studies and assistant academic dean. Among his students there was Vernon Jordan, who later became president of the National Urban League. In Greencastle, Dr. Norton also served eight years on the city council.

On the way to Washington from Indiana in 1964, Dr. Norton's family dog Tiger, who had to be shipped by railroad because of motion sickness, broke out in Baltimore and escaped.

The dog was recovered at the Baltimore pound; the incident proved irresistible to the local papers, which ran a photo of the Nortons and Tiger and traced his journey from the railway terminal to the police station 29 blocks away. The mutt stationed himself there for three days, refusing food, until the cops sent him to the pound.

"On Wednesday the Nortons went and got him and he was so happy that he rode home in the family car without whining once," The Washington Post reported at the time. "Explaining her 12-year-old pet's escapade, Mrs. Norton said, 'He'd never been to the big city before.' "

After retiring from the Congressional Research Service in 1984, Mr. Norton and his wife enjoyed travel to Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa.

Survivors include his wife of 68 years, Mary Lunny Norton of Bowie; two children, Mary Beth Norton of Ithaca, N.Y., and Clark Norton of Narrowsburg, N.Y.; and two grandchildren.