Donald Eugene Pendleton 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.
10 Facts About Don Pendleton
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Don Pendleton collaborated on several books with his wife, Linda Pendleton, including their popular nonfiction book, To Dance With Angels.
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Don Pendleton served in the US Navy during World War II, in all theaters of the war.
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Don Pendleton enlisted fraudulently at the age of 14 in 1941 and his enlistment ended in November 1947.
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Don Pendleton returned to active duty in 1952, during the Korean War, and served until 1954.
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Don Pendleton worked as a telegrapher for the Southern Pacific Railroad until 1957, and then as an air traffic control specialist for the Federal Aviation Administration.
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Don Pendleton later served as an engineering administrator at NASA during the Apollo missions.
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Don Pendleton is credited with creating the genre of action-adventure novels.
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The best-selling Executioner series made the men's action-adventure genre popular in the late 1960s and 1970s, and Don Pendleton was known as "the father of action adventure", a term he coined.
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Don Pendleton's novels revolved around Sergeant Mack Bolan's one-man war against the Mafia, beginning with War Against the Mafia and ending with Satan's Sabbath, after which Don Pendleton licensed the rights to his Executioner characters to the Harlequin publishing group.