Profiles in Giving
John Metzger '46
“I will always believe that I received more from WPI than I can ever repay.”
Trustee Emeritus, Generous Benefactor, Loyal Friend
John C. Metzger Jr. '46, a distinguished WPI alumnus and emeritus trustee, died December 29, 2006, in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 82. A member of the WPI Board of Trustees since 1981, Metzger was elected to emeritus status in 1989. He served on the board's committees for development, budget and finance, and finance and investment. In 1981, the WPI Alumni Association honored him with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement.
Metzger and his wife, Jean, recently established the John C. Metzger Jr. Professorship in Chemistry in WPI's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. As a candidate for the WPI Board of Trustees, Metzger once said of his alma mater, "I will always believe that I received more from WPI than I can ever repay."
"John Metzger did so much to help this university grow and prosper," said WPI President Dennis D. Berkey. "We are deeply grateful for his service and his friendship. While the WPI community will miss him profoundly, the legacy he built, through his professorship and countless other contributions, will endure for generations to come."
Metzger entered WPI in the fall of 1942 from Norristown, New Jersey, with a scholarship that helped pay his first-year expenses. In his sophomore year, he was accepted in the Navy's wartime V-12 program and continued his WPI studies in chemistry in uniform. He was commissioned after graduation and served in the Navy during World War II.
As an undergraduate, he played soccer and was a member of the swimming team. He earned membership in the Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi honorary societies and was selected as a member of the Skull, the senior honorary society. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.
Upon graduation from WPI, he joined the DuPont Co., where he served his entire professional career. He began as a chemical engineer and later became a corporate group vice president, retiring in December 1986 as group vice president for Photosystems and Electronic Products, one of the company's major divisions.
As an alumnus, Metzger served WPI in several volunteer capacities: as chair of his 40th Reunion and chair of the Corporate Contacts Program with Dupont, and as a member of the Firesafety Advisory Board and the Alumni Admissions Program. He was also a member of the Presidential Founders, the university's most generous giving society.
In Delaware, Metzger was a member of the National Board of Junior Achievement; in Vero Beach, he belonged to the First Presbyterian Church, the Moorings Club, the Vero Beach Country Club, and the Oak Harbor Club.
He is survived by his wife; daughters, Susan Ferrell of Hendersonville, N.C., Donna Machlan of Bonita Springs, Fla., and Sally Baker of Little River, S.C.; and two grandsons. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Jane Metzger.
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