A native of Napanee, Ontario, Robert Ruttan received his M.D.,C.M. from McGill University in 1884. He had a long association with McGill, commencing in 1886 as assistant to the professor of chemistry in the Medical Faculty. He became chairman of the Department of Chemistry in 1913, a position he held until 1928, and served as Dean of Graduate Studies from 1924 to 1927. He was emeritus Dean of Graduate Studies from 1928 to 1929.

John Rutherford was born on June 12, 1823, in Stollwell, Durham, England.

He was a mining engineer. In 1865, he moved to Nova Scotia, Canada, to start a position of Inspector of Mines for the province of Nova Scotia. In 1872, he became General Manager and Mining Engineer for the General Mining Association. He dealt with Albion Mines, Blight Area, Caledonia Coal Mines, and especially, the Style Mining Area. He became a shareholder of this property, as well as the sole owner of an adjacent property, referred to as “John Rutherford”. These properties were also called “Cumberland Coal Areas”. He was an honorary member of the Mining Society of Nova Scotia. Rutherford was an original member of the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers and contributed to its transactions. He was the author of papers, The Coal-Fields of Nova Scotia (1871), Report on the Reid Areas in the Glace Bay District of the Sydney Coal Field (1875), and Notes on the Albertite of New Brunswick (1897?).

In 1848, he married Mary Johnson (1822–). He died on January 8, 1913, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.