William von Meister
William F. von Meister (February 21, 1942 – May 18, 1995) was an American entrepreneur who founded and participated in a number of startup ventures in the Washington, D.C., area. These included The Source, an early online service and CompuServe competitor, and Control Video Corporation, a predecessor company to AOL.
William von Meister | |
|---|---|
 A picture of William in 1989 | |
| Born | February 21, 1942 New York City, United States |
| Died | May 18, 1995 (aged 53) Great Falls, Virginia, United States |
| Issue | Frederick von Meister |
| Father | F.W. von Meister |
| Mother | Eleanora Colloredo-Mannsfeld |
Early years
William Ferdinand von Meister was born of noble German descent[1] on February 21, 1942 in New York City, to F. W. von Meister and Eleanora Colloredo-Mannsfeld.[2] His father, F. W. von Meister, was the godson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and his mother was a countess.[3]
William von Meister attended high school at Middlesex Academy in Massachusetts, and a finishing school in Switzerland. He then attended Georgetown University. Though he never completed his undergraduate education, he persuaded nearby American University to enroll him in its master's program for business.[3][4]
Career
After leaving Georgetown in 1973, von Meister started a wholesale liquor company, but found it "boring" and decided to move into consulting.[5] After creating a database for Litton Bionetics, he was hired by Western Union to create a computerized billing system.[5]
In 1978, Meister founded The Source,[6] the first popular online services company. The Source was eventually sold to Reader's Digest and later acquired by rivals CompuServe.[7][6]
In 1983, Control Video Corporation was founded by Meister. The company originally ran the GameLine dial-up service for the Atari 2600,[6] which Meister claimed to be able to handle up to 100,000 users.[8]
Personal life and death
Meister has at least one brother, Peter.[3] Bill von Meister died of cancer in Great Falls, Virginia, at the age of 53,[7] leaving behind his son, Frederick William von Meister.
Titles
As a descendent of Prussian nobility, William had the honour of carrying von in his last name.[1]
References
- dGenealogisches Handbuch des Adels (in German).
- Klein 2004, p. 9.
- Swisher 1998.
- "The source of it all: William F. von Meister". Goliath. 1 March 2007. Archived from the original on 20 February 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - "Hooked on Startups, He Invented Infocast". Radio World. 2019-07-17. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- Needle 1983, p. 8.
- Smith, Esther (25 May 1995). "Obituary: Bill von Meister". Washington Technology.
- Needle 1983, p. 9.
Bibliography
- Klein, Alec (2004) [2003]. Stealing Time: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-5984-X.
- Swisher, Kara (1998). "Two: Billy's Beginnings". AOL.COM (How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads, and Made Millions in the War for the Web. ISBN 0-8129-2896-2.
- Needle, Davis (30 May 1983). "CVC lets Atari VCS owners connect to GameLine". InfoWorld. pp. 8–9. ISSN 0199-6649.
Further reading
- Michael A. Banks (2008), On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders. Apress. ISBN 1-4302-0869-4.
- Lazy Game Reviews (February 3, 2017), LGR Tech Tales - Quantum Link: AOL Origins, archived from the original on 2021-12-21, retrieved 2017-02-24
External links
- Genealogy of William von Meister at the Luyken Family Association