Donald Eugene Pendleton (December 12, 1927 – October 23, 1995) was an American author of fiction and non-fiction books, best known for his creation of the fictional character Mack Bolan, which have sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide since the character's 1969 debut. Since 1980 the Bolan adventure-espionage books were written by other authors under the Pendleton name, and initially under Pendleton's editorial guidance. Other works include the Joe Copp, Private Eye series of six novels, the Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective series of six novels, and nonfiction books. He collaborated on several books with his wife, Linda Pendleton, including their popular nonfiction book, To Dance With Angels. His earlier writings in the 1960s include mysteries, sci-fi, and futuristic books. Pendleton wrote several early books under the pseudonyms Dan Britain and Stephan Gregory. Biography Don Pendleton served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, in all theaters of the war. He enlisted fraudulently at the age of 14 in 1941 and his enlistment ended in November 1947. He returned to active duty in 1952, during the Korean War, and served until 1954. He worked as a telegrapher for the Southern Pacific Railroad until 1957, and then as an air traffic control specialist for the Federal Aviation Administration. In the 1960s, he worked for Martin Marietta on the Titan missile program. He later served as an engineering administrator at NASA during the Apollo missions. Pendleton also worked on the C-5 Galaxy transport aircraft program. At the age of 40 he started a creative writing correspondence course, but never completed it, instead turning in his first manuscript and selling it to a publisher. He is credited with creating the genre of action-adventure novels. He died in 1995, at age 67. Writings Executioner series (1969–1980) The best-selling The Executioner book series made the men's action-adventure genre popular in the late 1960s and '70s, and Pendleton was known as "the father of action adventure," a term he coined. The Mack Bolan novels penned by Pendleton revolved around Bolan's one-man war against the Mafia, beginning with War Against the Mafia (1969) and ending with Satan's Sabbath (1980), after which Pendleton licensed the rights to his Executioner characters to the Harlequin publishing group. In the pulp tradition, Pendleton's Mack Bolan, a former United States Army sergeant and Vietnam War veteran called both "The Executioner" and "Sergeant Mercy," was larger than life, responsible for killing literally