President’s Page

The New Kodak

By Joel Seligman Eastman and Kodak touched nearly ev- ery corner of our University, funding the Eastman Kodak this month will emerge buildings early in the 20th century that from bankruptcy reorganization, a shadow allowed us to double our enrollment and of the company it once was. For over a cen- first award engineering degrees; creating tury, Kodak was Rochester; Rochester was the Eastman School of Music in 1921 along Kodak. Rarely has a company had such an with Eastman Theatre; endowing the East- indelible impact. man Dental Center in 1919 and then a few George Eastman was the Steve Jobs of years later, along with the Rockefeller Gen- his day. He popularized photography in eral Education Board and the Strong family, 1900 by creating the “Brownie” camera, helping create the School of Medicine and which made photography available to any- Dentistry and Strong Memorial Hospital. one who had a dollar and 15 cents for film, Eastman memorably led our 1924 Capital effectively taking photography out of the Campaign that enabled the University to exclusive hands of professional studios and establish and to expand many of our pro- putting it into the hands of millions of “am- grams on our current River and Medical ateurs.” Kodak’s yellow film boxes and dis- Center campuses. At Eastman’s death in tinctive graphic image were as ubiquitous 1932, he had given more money to the Uni- as the branded images of Coca-Cola or Ap- versity of Rochester than had been received ple continue to be today. by any university in history. Eastman was an entrepreneur’s entre- This is all the more remarkable for a man preneur. He cared about every aspect of who dropped out of high school at age 14. Eastman Kodak: from the name Kodak I am proud that during my time here we (“The letter ‘K’ has been a favorite with belatedly installed a statue of Eastman on me—it seems a strong, incisive sort of let- What should the Eastman Quadrangle and named the ter”); to commercial advertising—we have not be lost is how main performance hall in Eastman Theatre all had “Kodak Moments”; development of as Kodak Hall. Eastman Business Park—which may be the extraordinary George Eastman’s ultimate legacy in part largest industrial park in the country; to in- Eastman and Kodak’s will be higher education. He came to be- novation—Kodak held almost 11,000 pat- lieve: “The progress of the world depends ents in early 2013. Kodak long dominated contributions were almost entirely upon education.” On one motion picture production. A recent article . . . The community day in 1924, Eastman pledged $30 million recounts: “Between 1928 and 2008, every to the University of Rochester, MIT, Hamp- single film to win the Oscar for best film became Eastman’s ton, and Tuskegee universities. “Now I feel was shot on Kodak stock.” extended family. better,” he said. Earlier Eastman began to The last decades have been difficult ones. provide support to the Rochester Institute Kodak, a firm that in the early 1980s had of Technology. He also supported Howard 60,000 employees in Rochester, declined the “smugness of Kodak.” Business histori- University and Meharry Medical College. to approximately 3,500 employees earlier ans will describe “creative destruction” or George Eastman was committed to high- this year. “disruptive technology.” er education. He was committed to access, From 2009 to 2013, I served on the Ko- What should not be lost is how extraor- particularly for African Americans. dak Board of Directors. No one associated dinary Eastman and Kodak’s contributions Eastman no doubt was most proud of with Kodak during that period could help were for well over 100 years. The commu- the corporation he formed, Eastman Ko- but feel the tragedy of so many good em- nity became Eastman’s extended family. In dak. He was an unassuming man with a ployees and former employees harmed by Rochester, Eastman was responsible for “success complex,” who achieved near- a process that by then seemed inevitable. I starting the Community Chest, the precur- ly every corporate, civic, and educational am glad that Kodak survived in any form. sor to today’s United Way, creating elabo- goal he sought. Eastman Kodak will be re- Endless books and studies will explain rate music instruction programs for the membered for its remarkable 132-year his- why Kodak declined. They will address the community at large, working to improve tory—extraordinarily long for a top-flight seeming failure to convert to digital tech- the dental health of children in Rochester business corporation—as well as the com- nology, even though Kodak’s Steven Sasson as well as elsewhere in the United States pany’s remarkable loyalty to its hometown. in 1975 invented the digital camera, as well and abroad, and pioneering the first em- Let me bid farewell to the original East- as legacy costs, inept diversification, and ployee profit-sharing program in America. man Kodak. Long live the new Kodak.r

Adam Fenster September–October 2013 ROCHESTER REVIEW 3

2_RochRev_Sept2013_TOC.indd 3 8/16/13 12:15 PM