John B. Van Meter

John Blackford Van Meter (September 6, 1842 – April 8, 1930) was an American Methodist minister, educator, and the co-founder of Goucher College. Van Meter also served as the college's first dean and as acting president from 1911 to 1913.

Early life and education Van Meter was born on September 6, 1842, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Thomas Hurley Van Meter and Johnetta Blackford. He was of English and French descent, and his grandmother was a Quaker. He graduated from Male Central High School in Baltimore, which later became Baltimore City College. Van Meter did not pursue a college degree, which he said was due to his lack of financial means. He resigned from the Navy in April 1882.

Founding of the Women's College of Baltimore City Through his involvement with the Methodist church in the Baltimore area, he became acquainted with fellow minister John Franklin Goucher, who would advocate for Van Meter's appointment to the annual Baltimore Methodist Conference. In the early 1880s, the Baltimore Conference was considering the establishment of a women's college, deliberations in which Van Meter and Goucher became heavily involved.

The women of the conference formed an association through which they pushed for such an institution, and Van Meter supported their efforts, at one point exclaiming that "the Conference [should] make the foundation and endowment of a female college the single object of its organized effort." Van Meter reassumed his position as dean when the administration named William Westley Guth as the college's fourth president. Van Meter also remained on the faculty as a professor of English and biblical studies. Van Meter stepped down from his position as dean at Goucher in 1914, and in 1920 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the school.

Later years Van Meter lived out his final years in Baltimore, Maryland. He died in 1930 and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery.