George Eastman, American businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (d. 1933)
George Eastman (July 12, 1854 – March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream.
He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman School of Music, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and schools of dentistry and medicine at the University of Rochester and in London Eastman Dental Hospital; contributing to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the construction of several buildings at the second campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the Charles River. In addition, he made major donations to Tuskegee University and Hampton University, historically black universities in the South. With interests in improving health, he provided funds for clinics in London and other European cities to serve low-income residents.
In his final two years, Eastman was in intense pain caused by a disorder affecting his spine. On March 14, 1932, Eastman shot himself in the heart, leaving a note which read, "To my friends: my work is done. Why wait?"The George Eastman Museum has been designated a National Historic Landmark. Eastman is the only person represented by two stars both in the Film category in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one in North side of the 6800 block of Hollywood Boulevard and the other one in West side of the 1700 block of Vine Street, recognizing the same achievement, that he developed, bromide paper, which became a standard of the film industry.