George Eastman

About George Eastman

Who is it?: Inventor of Roll Film
Birth Day: July 12, 1854
Birth Place: Waterville, United States
Resting place: Ashes buried at Eastman Business Park (Kodak Park)
Occupation: Businessman, inventor, philanthropist
Known for: Photography pioneer, Founder of Eastman Kodak
Parent(s): George Washington Eastman (1815–1862) and Maria Kilbourn (1821–1907)

George Eastman

George Eastman was born on July 12, 1854 in Waterville, United States, is Inventor of Roll Film. George Eastman was an inventor, an entrepreneur and a philanthropist all rolled into one. He was the founder of Eastman Kodak Company, which revolutionized the concept of photography. It was his invention of roll films and Kodak camera, which simplified the art of taking pictures and popularized it among the masses. What was unique about him was that unlike many other inventors he also had a shrewd sense of business. By mass producing his inventions and constantly upgrading his products, he not only made millions of dollars, but was also able to bring photography within easy reach of the common people. At the same time, he used a ‘razor and blade strategy; he sold his cameras at a very low profit, but maintained a large margin in films, chemicals and papers. However, he also had a large heart and unlike many other industrialists, he was a caring employer. In fact, Eastman Kodak was the first American company, which offered shares of profit to its workers. Himself a school dropout, he also donated millions of dollars to different educational institutes and healthcare units.
George Eastman is a member of Inventors & Discoverers

Does George Eastman Dead or Alive?

As per our current Database, George Eastman has been died on March 14, 1932(1932-03-14) (aged 77)\nRochester, New York, U.S..

🎂 George Eastman - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday

When George Eastman die, George Eastman was 77 years old.

Popular As George Eastman
Occupation Inventors & Discoverers
Age 77 years old
Zodiac Sign Leo
Born July 12, 1854 (Waterville, United States)
Birthday July 12
Town/City Waterville, United States
Nationality United States

🌙 Zodiac

George Eastman’s zodiac sign is Leo. According to astrologers, people born under the sign of Leo are natural born leaders. They are dramatic, creative, self-confident, dominant and extremely difficult to resist, able to achieve anything they want to in any area of life they commit to. There is a specific strength to a Leo and their "king of the jungle" status. Leo often has many friends for they are generous and loyal. Self-confident and attractive, this is a Sun sign capable of uniting different groups of people and leading them as one towards a shared cause, and their healthy sense of humor makes collaboration with other people even easier.

🌙 Chinese Zodiac Signs

George Eastman was born in the Year of the Tiger. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Tiger are authoritative, self-possessed, have strong leadership qualities, are charming, ambitious, courageous, warm-hearted, highly seductive, moody, intense, and they’re ready to pounce at any time. Compatible with Horse or Dog.

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Biography/Timeline

1849

Eastman was born in Waterville, New York to George Washington Eastman and Maria Eastman (née Kilbourn), the youngest child, at the 10-acre farm which his parents bought in 1849. He had two older sisters, Ellen Maria and Katie. He was largely self-educated, although he attended a private school in Rochester after the age of eight. In the early 1840s his Father had started a Business school, the Eastman Commercial College in Rochester, New York. It was one of the first "boomtowns" in the United States, based on rapid industrialization. As his father's health started deteriorating, the family gave up the farm and moved to Rochester in 1860. His Father died of a brain disorder in May 1862. To survive and afford George's schooling, his mother took in boarders.

1870

Maria's second daughter, Katie, had contracted polio when young and died in late 1870 when George was 15 years old. The young George left school early and started working to help support the family. As Eastman began to have success with his photography Business, he vowed to repay his mother for the hardships she had endured in raising him.

1884

In 1884, Eastman patented the first film in roll form to prove practicable; he had been tinkering at home to develop it. In 1888, he perfected the Kodak Black camera, the first roll film camera designed. He incorporated his company under the name Eastman Kodak, in 1892.

1907

George Eastman never married. He was close to his mother and to his sister and her family. He had a long platonic relationship with Josephine Dickman, a trained singer and the wife of Business associate George Dickman, becoming especially close to her after the death of his mother, Maria Eastman, in 1907. He was also an avid traveler and had a passion for playing the piano.

1910

In an era of growing trade union activities, he sought to instill loyalty in his employees by devising worker benefit programs, including, in 1910, the establishment of a profit-sharing program for all employees. Considered progressive for the times, Eastman promoted Florence McAnaney to be head of the personnel department, one of the first women to hold an executive position in a major U.S. company.

1911

Eastman was associated with the Kodak company in an administrative and an Business executive capacity until his death; he contributed much to the development of its notable research facilities. In 1911, he founded the Eastman Trust and Savings Bank.

1915

In 1915, Eastman founded a bureau of municipal research in Rochester "to get things done for the community" and to serve as an "independent, non-partisan agency for keeping citizens informed." Called the Center for Governmental Research, the agency continues to carry out that mission.

1918

He was one of the outstanding Philanthropists of his time, donating more than $100 million to various projects in Rochester; Cambridge, Massachusetts; at two historically black colleges in the South; and in several European cities. In 1918, he endowed the establishment of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, and in 1921 a school of Medicine and dentistry there.

1922

The loss of his mother, Maria, was particularly crushing to George. Almost pathologically concerned with decorum, he found himself unable for the first time to control his emotions in the presence of his friends. "When my mother died I cried all day," he explained later. "I could not have stopped to save my life." Due to his mother's reluctance to accept his gifts, George Eastman could never do enough for his mother during her lifetime. He opened the Eastman Theater in Rochester on September 4, 1922, which included a chamber-music hall dedicated to his mother's memory: the Kilbourn Theater. At the Eastman House, he maintained a rose bush using a cutting from her childhood home.

1925

In 1925, Eastman gave up his daily management of Kodak to become treasurer. He concentrated on philanthropic activities, to which he had already donated substantial sums. For Example, he donated funds to establish the Eastman Dental Dispensary in 1916. He was one of the major Philanthropists of his time, ranking only slightly behind Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and a few others, but did not seek publicity for his activities. He concentrated on institution-building and causes that could help people's health. From 1926 until his death, Eastman also donated $22,050 per year to the American Eugenics Society, a popular cause among many of the upper class when there were concerns about immigration and "race mixing."

1931

Eastman donated £200,000 in 1926 to fund a dental clinic in London, UK after being approached by the Chairman of the Royal Free Hospital, George Riddell, 1st Baron Riddell. This was in addition to donations of £50,000 each from Lord Riddell and the Royal Free honorary treasurer. On 20 November 1931, the UCL Eastman Dental Institute opened in a ceremony attended by Neville Chamberlain, then Minister of Health, and the American Ambassador to the UK. The clinic was incorporated into the Royal Free Hospital and was committed to providing dental care for disadvantaged children from central London. It is now a part of University College London.

1932

In his final two years, Eastman was in intense pain caused by a disorder affecting his spine. He had trouble standing, and his walk became a slow shuffle. Today, it might be diagnosed as a form of degenerative disease such as disc herniations from trauma or age causing either painful nerve root compressions, or perhaps a type of lumbar spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal caused by calcification in the vertebrae. Since his mother suffered the final two years of her life in a wheelchair, she also may have had a spine condition but that is uncertain. Only her uterine cancer and successful surgery are documented in her health history. If she did have a musculoskeletal disorder, perhaps George Eastman's spine condition may have been due to a congenital disease, such as ankylosing spondylitis, degenerative disc disease, or a variant of Ehlers–Danlos syndrome, a collagen disorder—condition known to be inheritable but usually presenting earlier in age. Eastman suffered from depression due to his pain, reduced ability to function, and also since he had witnessed his mother's suffering from pain. On March 14, 1932, Eastman died by suicide with a single gunshot through the heart, leaving a note which read, "To my friends, my work is done – Why wait? GE." Raymond Granger, an insurance salesman in Rochester, showed up to collect insurance payments from several members of the staff. He arrived at the scene to find the entire workforce in a dither. At least one chronicler claimed that fear of senility or other debilitating diseases of old age was also a contributing factor.

1937

Eastman also funded Eastmaninstitutet, a dental care clinic for children opened in 1937 in Vasastan, Stockholm.

1949

Eastman had built a mansion, which became known as the George Eastman Museum, at 900 East Avenue in Rochester. Here he entertained friends to dinner and held private music concerts. The University of Rochester used the mansion for various purposes for decades after his death. In 1949, it re-opened after having been adapted for use as the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

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