John D. MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Utica Free Academy where he graduated in 1933. His further education was at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance followed by obtaining a BS degree in Business Administration at Syracuse University, New York and a MBA at Harvard Graduate School of Business. In 1937 he married Dorothy Mary Prentiss. Their only child, a son, was born in 1940. After several jobs he joined the U.S. Army in 1940. He eventually reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. In the Forties he wrote a lot of short stories. One of them was sold to a magazine for $25. This inspired him to make a living as a full-time writer. He not only wrote crime novels but also westerns and science fiction. All his stories were published in the so called pulp magazines. In 1964 he created 'Travis McGee', a salvage consultant who recovers others' property.