Dr. John Robert ("Bob") Van Pelt was Michigan Tech's sixth president, serving the campus from 1956 to 1965. After he stepped down, Van Pelt began work on a history of the Copper Range Company (whose board he had joined in 1961). The manuscript was unfinished when the Copper Range Company was acquired by Louisiana Land and Exploration in 1977.

Born 1896 in Denver, Van Pelt received his early college instruction at Cornell College, near Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In 1922, Van Pelt completed his Bachelor of Science and Engineer of Mines degrees at the Michigan College of Mines. After working in industry, Van Pelt began a career in education by returning to Cornell College as a professor in the Department of Geology. From 1928 to 1944, Van Pelt was the Technical Director at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago. He then became Director of the Research Education Division at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, serving until his appointment as president of the Montana School of Mines in 1951.

Van Pelt returned to Houghton in October 1956 to become the sixth president of the Michigan College of Mining and Technology, succeeding Grover Dillman. During his presidency the College greatly increased in physical and student size and program diversity. Perhaps most significantly, the expansion encouraged the State of Michigan to improve the College's status in 1965, renaming the institution Michigan Technological University. Van Pelt resigned his presidency January 1, 1965, but remained on campus for another year as MTU's first chancellor. He continued to maintain close ties with the University after 1966 under the honorary title of President Emeritus.

In 1988, the University recognized his contributions to the campus by naming the library building in his honor. Dr. John Robert Van Pelt died May 3, 1991 in Sarasota at the age of 95.

Van Pelt and the Copper Range Company

The Copper Range Company (1899-1977) was a copper mining company that operated numerous mines, including the Baltic Mine, Champion Mine, Trimountain Mine, and White Pine Mine. It also controlled the Copper Range Railroad Company, Copper Range Motor Bus Company, and Michigan Smelting Company.

In 1961, Van Pelt was elected to the Copper Range Company's Board of Directors. He served in this role until reaching the mandatory retirement age in 1970, at which point he became director emeritus.

In mid-1965, Van Pelt initiated a Copper Range Company funded project to write a history of the company. Originally intended to be completed in October 1966, the project would remain unfinished when the Copper Range Company merged with Louisiana Land and Exploration in 1977.