Robert Crooks Stanley (August 1, 1876 – February 12, 1951) was an American industrialist and mining engineer. He was chairman and president of International Nickel Company and discovered the alloy

Monel Monel is a group of alloys of nickel (from 52 to 67%) and copper, with small amounts of iron, manganese, carbon, and silicon. Monel is not a cupronickel alloy because it has less than 60% copper. Stronger than pure nickel, Monel alloys are res ...

Biography

Stanley was born on August 1, 1876 in

Little Falls, New Jersey Little Falls is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. The township was named for a waterfall on the Passaic River at a dam near Beattie Mill. As of the 2020 census, the township's population was 13,360 reflecting a decreas ...

. He attended Montclair High School as a star football player and graduated from the

Stevens Institute of Technology Stevens Institute of Technology is a private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely dedicated to mechanica ...

in 1899 and received his engineer of mines degree from

Columbia School of Mines The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (popularly known as SEAS or Columbia Engineering; previously known as Columbia School of Mines) is the engineering and applied science school of Columbia University. It was founded as th ...

in 1901. Stanley joined International Nickel (Inco) in 1901, serving as general superintendent from 1914 to 1918, and as vice president from 1918 to 1922. He then served as president from 1922 to 1950 and was chairman from 1937 until his death. Under Stanley, nickel reached worldwide importance, and the company saw rapid growth after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, producing 75% of the world's nickel. He also discovered Monel in 1905 and conceived the process of producing the alloy from ore. Stanley was also a director of

United States Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in several countries ...

Mond Nickel Company The Mond Nickel Company Limited was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom-based List of mining companies, mining company, formed on September 20, 1900, licensed in Canada to carry on business in the province of Ontario, from ...

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

, and

Chase National Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fi ...

. Stanley was made a Commander of the Order of Leopold in 1937 and was conferred

King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom The King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom is a British medal instituted by King George VI on 23 August 1945. It was awarded to civilian foreign nationals, mainly of allied countries, who had given meritorious service to further the int ...

in 1947. He also received a Charles F. Rand Memorial Gold Medal from the

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) is a professional association for mining and metallurgy, with over 145,000 members. It was founded in 1871 by 22 mining engineers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Uni ...

in 1941. He was inducted into the

Canadian Mining Hall of Fame The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was conceived by Maurice R. Brown as a way to honor Canada's mine finders and builders, in recognition of accomplishments by leaders in the Canadian mining industry. The Hall was established in 1988; in 2022 it h ...

in 1990 for building

Inco Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...

into the largest nickel company in the world and pioneering a number of improved refining and production processes of nickel. He was also named by

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

as one of the "Great American Business Leaders of the 20th Century." Stanley received honorary degrees from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, Queen's University at Kingston, and

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Va ...

. Stanley died of a stroke at his home in

Dongan Hills, Staten Island Dongan Hills is a neighborhood located within the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is on the Island's East Shore. Dongan Hills is bounded by Laconia Avenue on the southeast, Jefferson Avenue on the southwest, Richmond Road on the nort ...

, on February 12, 1951 at the age of 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Robert Crooks 1876 births 1951 deaths American metallurgists American mining engineers Stevens Institute of Technology alumni Columbia School of Mines alumni People from Little Falls, New Jersey Order of Leopold (Belgium) Recipients of the King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom U.S. Steel people JPMorgan Chase people Canadian Pacific Railway people