Richard Franklin Vander Veen (Dick) was born November 26, 1922 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Richard Franklin Vander Veen and Nettie Moerdyk. He had two younger brothers, Robert and James. During the Depression the family moved to Muskegon, Michigan. Living near the Great Lakes may have influenced the brothers in their later choice of military service; all three were in the Navy during World War II. In his youth Dick worked at the Highland Park Dairy (A&W) and was active in theater productions at Muskegon High School. It was during a Christmas play there, while playing a wise man, that he met “Mary,” played by Marion Pearl Coward, who later became his wife. After graduating from high school in 1940, he spent a year at Muskegon Junior College, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy, attending the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, 1941. He ended up in the South Pacific after Pearl Harbor was bombed, taking part in the Battles of Midway and Coral Sea in a Navy Patrol Bomber.

After the War, in 1944, Vander Veen returned to school first at the University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee and then at the University of South Carolina, while remaining in the service. At USC he was editor of the Carolina Review, president of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, a Blue Key recipient and president of the student body. He graduated in June 1946, with the rank of Ensign, and after their June 29, 1946 wedding, Dick and Marion moved to Cambridge Massachusetts, where Dick attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1949. Following graduation the couple moved back to Grand Rapids, where Vander Veen was admitted to the Michigan Bar and joined the law firm of Tubbs & Gretenberger. He was called up from the Naval Reserve to active participation in the Korean War, 1950-1952. Dick was serving as a Deck Officer aboard the USS Latimer when his first child, Richard, was born in July 1951. After completion of this tour of duty, Vanderveen returned to law in Grand Rapids, to form the law firm of VanderVeen and Freihoffer, later Vanderveen, Friehoffer and Cook. Two other sons, Lawrence James (1953) and Paul (1955) completed the family.

In 1958, Dick Vander Veen ran against Jerry Ford for Congress. John F. Kennedy and Phil Hart came to Grand Rapids to campaign for him. Vander Veen lost this election though he was later to occupy this seat. In 1958 Michigan Governor G. Mennen appointed Vander Veen to the Michigan Mental Health Commission, where he served until 1963. In 1959 he became chairman of the Fifth District Democratic Party, and in 1960 he chaired the Michigan Democratic Convention and ran for Lieutenant Governor, losing in a close race. In 1964, Vander Veen was appointed by then Governor George Romney to the Michigan Highway Commission, on which he served for five years. It was during this time period that he served as president of the Western Michigan Chapter of the World Affairs Council, and worked with others to help found Grand Valley State College. From 1969 to 1973 he was President of GVSU's Urban Affairs Institute. In 1969 Vander Veen was elected to the East Grand Rapids Board of Education, serving through 1974. He followed this in 1971 with a run for the office of Mayor of East Grand Rapids, Michigan, but was defeated.

In 1973, the family founded Vander Veen and Company, a rare book business, which continued to be an interest for the remainder of his life. Later in 1973, life for the Vander Veen's changed when another Grand Rapids resident, Gerald R. Ford, became Vice President under Richard Nixon, following Spiro Agnew's resignation. In a special February 1974 election for Ford's vacated seat, Richard Franklin Vander Veen defeated the Republican candidate, Richard VanderLaan, and was the first Democrat in 64 years to be elected to the 5th District Congressional seat. In fall of 1974, Vander Veen won the seat again for the regular term. He served on both the Public Works and the Ways and Means Committees during his congressional period. Vander Veen ran for reelection in 1976, but was defeated, with the seat returning to Republican Harold Sawyer, who had heavy support from Jerry Ford. Dick Vander Veen persevered, and ran in the 1978 primaries as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, but was defeated. He practiced law briefly in Washington, D.C. before returning to Grand Rapids to the firm Varnum, Riddering, Wierengo & Christenson. In 1984 he was made a member of the Michigan State Waterways Commission. He founded Resource Energy Co., a Lansing firm, to convert waste to energy.

As Dick Vander Veen moved into retirement, he was one of those busy, active people who continues to use his creative energies to develop a better life for the Grand Rapids and Michigan communities. Among his endeavors was working in support of his son Richard in the company Bay Windpower, which generates wind turbine energy in Michigan. Two of his other projects support his love of books, and the Grand Rapids Public Library. In 1990, he worked with then Library Director Robert Raz to develop the Ryerson Library Foundation, the fund-raising arm of the Library. The Foundation, and funds raised, made it possible for the renovation and construction of several Grand Rapids Public Library buildings from 2000-2003. In the newly renovated Main Library of the Grand Rapids Public Library system is found the Vander Veen Center for the Book. This room, located in the Grand Rapids History & Special Collections department, is used as a meeting space for many community organizations, including the Literacy Council which strives to improve adult reading and non-English speakers reading skills. The Vander Veen Center is also a space to celebrate the love of books and reading with programs about books, authors or about rare books and conservation. A Certificate of Tribute from the State of Michigan, signed by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm in 2004, commemorated the Center, and Vander Veen's other outstanding activities.

Suffering a stroke in 1993, Vander Veen recovered to continue on with his activities until March 3, 2006, when he died as a result of prostate cancer.