Robert Peele died at his home in New York City on December 8th, 1942, at the age of 84.
Born in New York, he received his technical training at the Columbia School of Mines, from which he graduated E.M. in 1883. He began his professional career as an assayer at the Designole Reduction
Works at Charlotte, N.C., and in 1884 took a post as mill foreman at the Silver King Mining Co., Arizona. In 1886 he visited England, later making inspections in Arizona, Colombia, and Dutch Guiana.
From 1890 to 1892 he examined properties in South America for the Peruvian Exploration Syndicate, Ltd., of London, and in the latter year was appointed adjunct professor of mining in the School of Mines at Columbia. This began his long and distinguished service to mining education. He became full professor in 1904 and occupied that position until he retired as professor emeritus in 1925.
He published many articles on mining subjects, and edited the Mining Engineers’ Handbook, first published in 1918, and rapidly to become the familiar “Peele,” a vade-mecum for English-speaking mining engineers the world over.
Professor Peele was an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, and a gold medallist of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America. He was elected a Member of the Institution in, 1894, and an Honorary Member in 1921.
Vol. 53, Trans I.M.M., 1943-4, pp.435-6
