Harry Stephen Ackerman (November 17, 1912 – February 3, 1991) was an American television producer, credited with creating or co-creating twenty-one series, seven of which were at one time being broadcast simultaneously.

Some of the sitcoms in which he was involved in production during the 1950s and 1960s are also among the most popular American shows in the early history of television, such as Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, Leave It to Beaver, The Farmer's Daughter, Hazel, Bewitched, The Flying Nun, and Gidget.

Ackerman was known in the entertainment industry as the “dean of television comedy”, although he was also instrumental in developing many dramatic classics and documentaries, such as The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, The Day Lincoln Was Shot, and The 20th Century.

[2][1] Ackerman began his career as a writer, but soon became a radio performer, appearing as the comic poet Wilbur W. Willoughby Jr.[1] In 1938 he went to work as an advertising executive at Young & Rubicam.

[6] Three years later, as a memorial to her husband and to serve as an important resource for research on the history of American television, Elinor Donahue donated the Harry Ackerman Collection of personal papers to the Rauner Library at Dartmouth College.