Deccan Education Society

Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi, V. S. Apte, V. B. Kelkar, M. S. Gole and N. K. Dharap.The Maharaja of Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Shahu served as the president of the society from 1885 till his death in 1922.

The college was initially operated out of Gadre Wada in Shaniwar peth area of Pune.

[5] The college moved to its present site in 1891 in the Deccan Gymkhana area on a 37 acres of land leased for 99 years from Rajaram Naroji Fatil Shirole, the patil of Bhamburda village.

Congress party leader, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and social reformer, Dhondo Keshav Karve were also life members of the society and taught at the college in the 1890s.

In 1919, the society opened the Willingdon College in Sangli in order to satisfy demand for higher education in southern Maharashtra region.