Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer famous for his two series of novels featuring the noble savage Tarzan and the Mars explorer John Carter.  A native of Chicago, Illinois, he was educated at Phillips Andover Academy and the Michigan Military Academy and enlisted in the cavalry after graduation.  A heart problem forced his discharge in 1897, and after marriage to his childhood sweetheart in 1900 he worked odd jobs and read pulp fiction magazines, concluding that he could probably write stories as well or better in spite his lack of experience.  He produced two novels in short order, Under the Moons of Mars and Tarzan of the Apes, each of which was published successfully and enabled him to write full time. According to Rudyard Kipling, who admired Tarzan, he was reported to have said “he wanted to find out how bad a book he could write and 'get away' with”. Get away he did - he went on to produce almost 80 books in various genres, including westerns and historical romances in addition to adventure and science fiction. In 1923 established his own company, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., to publish his work. He purchased a ranch north of Los Angeles in the late 1910's which he named Tarzana and which was incorporated as a community in 1927. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2003.