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George Eastman was born on July12th 1854 in Waterville, New York.
When he was five years old the family moved to Rochester, his father had harboured a dream of establishing the Eastman Commercial College, around this time it became possible for him to do this. But just a short while later Georges father passed away. This placed the family under great financial difficulties. George was able to continue with his education until he reached the age of fourteen. But he was then forced to leave school to help with the family finances.
His first job was as an office boy with an insurance company. During the evenings he studied accountancy in the hope of finding a better paid job. In 1874 he began working for the Rochester savings bank. The increase in his salary enabled him to live more comfortably.
George planned a trip to Santa Domingo, he wanted to record the memories of his trip, and so he bought photographic equipment to take with him. He never made the trip after becoming completely absorbed by the new equipment. He found it too bulky to carry around and set about experimenting with changes to it. In just three years he had invented and patented a whole new formula for dry plates.
He continued to improve his findings, after five years he introduced film that could be rolled onto a holder. It was a huge success. In 1888 he introduced the Kodak Camera.
Soon his company turnover ran into millions of dollars.
Kodak made a huge profit, but George made sure each of his employees shared in the companies good fortune. He was a generous employer and made sure the workers loyalty was well rewarded, by introducing a profit sharing scheme.
He gave much of his own profit to charity, and set up numerous good causes including the Eastman School of Music, and a number of dental clinics all over the world.
As his business had established itself, he began to make good use of any leisure time he had. He loved to travel, and visited much of Europe where he loved to visit art galleries. As his fortune amassed he was able to buy much of the art he so admired.
But he also loved the simple things in life, and loved to hunt and fish when he stayed in North Carolina.
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