Mel Pervais facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mel Pervais
Born	1940 (age 84–85) Fort William Reserve, Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	American
Occupation	Engineer, entrepreneur
Known for	Cataract Inc., Rhodium 2001

Melvin "Mel" Pervais, born in 1940, is a successful businessman, inventor, and engineer. He is also a proud member of the Ojibwa Nation. He is known for starting companies like Cataract Inc. and Rhodium 2001.

Early Life and Learning

Mel Pervais grew up on the Fort William Reserve near Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. He was the oldest of eight children. At age five, he started school in a one-room schoolhouse on the reserve. This school taught eight different grades all at once!

When he was twelve, Mel went to a special boarding school for Native American boys. It was called the Garnier Residential School and was about 500 miles (800 km) away in Spanish, Ontario. He finished school when he was sixteen years old.

Mel's Career Journey

Starting Out in Business

After finishing school at sixteen, Mel Pervais began working as a night watchman for the Jones Construction Company. Just two months later, he got a chance to learn a new skill. He started training as an instrument technician at Noranda Mines in Cutler, Ontario.

For the next seventeen years, Mel worked in the power generation industry. In 1973, he joined a company called Johnson Controls. There, he became the manager of a new department that focused on checking and fixing equipment. Mel changed the department's focus to nuclear power. This helped sales grow a lot, from $100,000 to $5 million in just three years!

Cataract Inc. and Its Challenges

In 1976, Mel Pervais left Johnson Controls. He used his skills and $10,000 to start a new company called Amalgamated Services in Philadelphia. He worked with a business partner to offer engineering services to nuclear power plants.

In 1979, his company joined with another one called Cataract Engineering and Construction. Mel became the president of the new company, Cataract Inc. Mel was always proud of his Native American background. The company's logo even had a Native American design, and they tried to hire Native American employees.

Cataract Inc. also had a special way of paying its workers. They offered unique bonuses and salaries to encourage employees to come to work and to attract talented people from other companies. Sometimes, field technicians earned as much as $90,000 a year, which was a lot back then!

By the early 1990s, Cataract Inc. faced big financial challenges. The company had to stop its operations on June 1, 1993. At its peak, Cataract had 500 engineers and technicians and made about $50 million in sales each year. After this, Mel Pervais decided to retire at age 45. He moved to the Chief Joseph Ranch in Darby, Montana, to focus on raising horses and cattle. In 1984, the Los Angeles Times newspaper said that Mel Pervais was one of the wealthiest Native Americans in the United States.

Rhodium 2001: Recycling for a Better World

In 1991, Mel Pervais came out of retirement to start a new company called Rhodium 2001. This company had a very important goal: to recycle materials from old car parts called catalytic converters. Mel invested more than $2 million of his own money into this new business. It even started in a remodeled barn on his ranch!

Mel and his partner, Don Golbeck, bought a special license for a process developed by an inventor named C.A. Dickey. This process helped them get valuable metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium from car catalytic converters. They also retrieved fine sand that could be used in the asphalt industry.

Rhodium 2001's recycling process was special because it was very good for the environment. It didn't need a smelter (a place that melts metals) and didn't release harmful pollution into the air. The exact details of this process were a closely guarded secret. Mel and Dickey didn't want other companies to copy their method. Mel said, "If you're an environmentalist, it's probably the greatest invention. I don't need a polluting process. I'd stay retired if that was the case."

Helping His Community

Mel Pervais's grandfather was a tribal chief. Mel has shared that his father encouraged him to learn about the non-Native American world from a young age. He said it was "the most traumatic thing he ever did," but also "the best thing he ever did for me."

Mel believes strongly that Native American communities should be self-sufficient. He has spoken to students and other groups, encouraging Native Americans to rely less on government help and more on starting their own businesses and supporting themselves.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan invited Mel Pervais to join a special group. This group worked to encourage support for community projects, like homes for older people and day care centers.

Mel Pervais has received special honors for his work. He was given honorary Doctorates of Engineering from Montana State University in 1995 and Lakehead University in 1996. He has also been a member of organizations that help Native American businesses and youth, like the United Indian Development Association and United National Indian Tribal Youth Inc. (UNITY). UNITY helps young Native Americans grow personally, become good citizens, and develop leadership skills.

The Chief Joseph Ranch

Chief Joseph Ranch near Darby, Montana.

In 1987, Mel Pervais bought the beautiful Chief Joseph Ranch. This ranch was huge, covering about 1,400 acres (5.7 square kilometers). It included a large lodge, a big house built in 1917, which used to be a summer home for the family of William S. Ford.

When Mel bought the ranch, it was not in good shape. The barns were falling apart, and there were no fences around the property. Mel spent ten years improving the ranch and carefully fixing up the lodge to look like it did when the Ford family lived there. At that time, he even had a pet bobcat named Toma, after one of Chief Joseph's wives.

Mel Pervais sold the ranch in 2004. Today, the Chief Joseph Ranch is a guest ranch, where people can stay and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. It is also a famous filming location for the popular TV series Yellowstone.

Personal Life

Melvin Pervais married his first love, Patricia, soon after he graduated from the Garnier Indian School. They had six children together. Later, they separated and divorced, but they remained close friends until Patricia passed away in 2017.

In 1985, Pervais married Lynda Hart Bailey. For their wedding, Peter MacDonald, a former Navajo Tribal Chairman, acted as Lynda's adopted Navajo "father." He offered twelve wild horses as a traditional gift to Mel. A second wedding ceremony also took place to honor Mel's Ojibwa heritage. This ceremony happened at sunset on the night of a new moon. Mel Pervais is a father to seven children.