Donald Paul Bellisario (born August 8, 1935)[1] is an American television producer and screenwriter who created and wrote episodes for the TV series Magnum, P.I.

Bellisario became an advertising copywriter in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1965, and three years later became creative director of the Bloom Agency in Dallas, Texas.

[8] Bellisario received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004, which was shown in a Season 9 JAG episode, "Trojan Horse".

In an interview with Sci-Fi Channel in the late 1990s, Bellisario said he was inspired to create Quantum Leap in 1988 after reading a novel about time travel.

Troian portrayed Sarah McGee on NCIS, Teresa on Quantum Leap, and Erin on JAG, but has become best known for her 2010–2017 role as Spencer Hastings on Pretty Little Liars, a series her father did not produce.

[citation needed] In 2001, Penn State named Bellisario a Distinguished Alumnus, the highest honor bestowed on a graduate.

He recalled: Growing up in a hardscrabble western Pennsylvania coal mining town, I know first hand the sacrifices that are made to give a son or daughter a university education ... and as a Marine veteran who returned to Penn State with two small children and little money, I remember all too well that struggle.

It's my hope that this scholarship will also ease the financial burden of other young men and women who have defended our country to attain their academic goals.