MacGyver is an operative of a clandestine organization who uses his extraordinary talent for unconventional problem solving and extensive knowledge of chemistry, physics, and machinery to save lives. Angus Dean MacGyver was born and raised in Mission City, Minnesota. His mother abandoned the family when he was a toddler and his father and grandmother died in automobile accident when he was eleven years old, leaving him to be raised by his grandfather, Harry Jackson, who taught him the value of fair play. As a youth, MacGyver, or "Mac," as his friends call him, excelled in mechanical aptitude and inventive prowess as he was blessed with a gifted IQ and a photographic memory.