Name: MacDONALD, John Dann Aged: 70
Born: July 24, 1916 Where: Sharon, Pennsylvania
Died: December 28, 1986 Where: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Interred: Pine Grove Cemetery, Newport, NY
Married: Dorothy Mary Prentiss When: July 3, 1937 (died 1989)
Awarded: 1972 Grandmaster Award from the Mystery Writers of America

Attended the University of Pennsylvania 1934-35 but took his BS from Syracuse University in 1938. The next year MacDonald acquired an MBA from Harvard University. The approach of WWII seeming obvious, John enlisted in the US Army in 1940 and served until 1946. He was stationed primarily in Asia working out of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) where he rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel.

MacDonald was a mainstream writer who spread himself around, making more of a splash in the special genre of mystery writing than in science fiction. His short work in SF was mainly written in the 1948-53 time span with his first SF novel, Wine of the Dreamers , appearing in 1951. MacDonald's 1962 novel, The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything was a delightful romp that eventually was made into a movie. John's SF short stories were collected in 1978 under the title Other Times, Other Worlds.

His later years were devoted to writing a large series of mystery novels about the super character, Travis McGee. MacDonald's works have been extensively studied and the JDM Collection at the University of Florida at Gainesville, houses most of it. When he died, of complications following heart surgery, John had published 78 books, close to 500 short stories, and saw about 75 million copies of his works in print.

PEN NAMES: John Dann, John Wade Farrell, Peter Reed

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.

OBITUARY: New York Times (copyrighted by C. Gerald Fraser), Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, & Chicago Tribune; December 29, 1986

George C. Willick, 514 East Street, Madison, IN 47250