Person
George Eastman
American innovator and entrepreneur
George Eastman (July 12, 1854 – March 14, 1932) is an American innovator and entrepreneur who founds the Eastman Kodak Company and invents roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream.
Roll film is also the basis for the invention of motion picture film in 1888 by the world's first filmmakers Eadward Muybridge and Louis Le Prince, and a few years later by their followers Léon Bouly, Thomas Edison, the Lumière Brothers and Georges Méliès.
He is a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman School of Music, and schools of dentistry and medicine at the University of Rochester; contributing to RIT and the construction of MIT's second campus on the Charles River; and donating to Tuskegee and Hampton universities.
In addition, he provides funds for clinics in London and other European cities to serve low-income residents.
In the last few years of his life, Eastman suffers with chronic pain and reduced functionality due to a spine illness.
On March 14, 1932 Eastman shoots himself, leaving a note which reads, "To my friends: my work is done.
Why wait?"
The George Eastman House, now operated as the International Museum of Photography and Film, has been designated a National Historic Landmark.