President’s Page
Eastman’s Legacy
The sesquicentennial of the birth of George Eastman is an opportunity to reflect
on the University’s commitment to fulfilling the ideals of one of its
greatest benefactors. By Thomas H. Jackson
This year, Greater Rochester has been marking the 150th anniversary of the
birth of George Eastman, born July 12, 1854. As we all know, his work transformed
this city—and, certainly, our University.
During his lifetime, Eastman’s interest in our University—carefully
nurtured at every turn by President Rush Rhees —put us on the road to
becoming a truly national institution. Through Eastman’s beneficence,
we gained first a top-tier music school, a groundbreaking medical school and
hospital, and a new campus suitable for a new century.
But perhaps Eastman’s most remarkable, single philanthropic act came
on March 14, 1932, the day he took his own life after writing that famous note:
“To my friends: My work is done—Why wait?”
My academic background reminds me that words are given meaning by context.
Without context, we might assume that Eastman was writing about the fact that
he was no longer running Eastman Kodak (having stepped down as president in
1925) or about his debilitating illness. But a closer look makes one suspect
he is mostly writing about the last great undertaking he set for himself.
Earlier on that day in 1932, he invited acquaintances over to witness the signing
of a codicil to his will. With that signing, Eastman ensured that, with the
exception of a few personal bequests, his entire estate would pass to the University.
It was his comfort in the correctness of that decision, I believe, that Eastman
was referring to when he wrote that “my work is done.” And with
that decision, on top of his prior gifts to higher education, Eastman became
(and, to my knowledge, remains) the largest benefactor to higher education in
the history of this country. His gifts over his life and at his death of some
$50 million to the University would today be equivalent to a gift approaching,
and perhaps far exceeding, $1 billion.
The sheer magnitude is astounding (particularly recalling his lifetime gifts
to such other institutions as MIT, Tuskegee, and RIT), but the story of why
he invested so much in this University, both during his lifetime and at his
death, is equally important because it tells us so much about him.
Always the investor, Eastman made gifts that would ensure the vibrancy of his
beloved community. He saw a great community as one that had culture, health
(including dental health), and great education. This would be a community that
could attract and retain a capable and sophisticated workforce. Eastman was
unambiguously correct about the importance and durability of these investments:
Today’s University is intimately linked to its surrounding community and,
indeed, serves in the central role of employer and as generator of new ideas
and technologies for local benefit, in ways that even Eastman may have underestimated.
By any factor, the University is a major force for Rochester, as Eastman envisioned.
Our impact now is increased by virtue of our size as the area’s second-largest
employer. But our contribution to our local community comes in yet another,
powerful way: through our national (indeed, international) reach and reputation.
As a result, we bring thousands of students here to experience the Rochester
area for the first time. We attract, from the world, the greatest faculty and
physicians to Rochester. Remarkable programs serving the community range from
the Mt. Hope Family Center to Golisano Children’s Hospital. And we annually
bring approximately $300 million dollars to the region for cutting-edge research—not
only at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics and Medical Center, but in engineering,
basic sciences, education, nursing, business, and music.
As Rochester—along with the United States—shifts from a manufacturing-centric
to a service-centric economy, and with manufacturing increasingly focused on
“high tech” areas dependent so centrally on new ideas, the University
will increase in its importance to the Rochester area. We remain, just as we
were in Eastman’s time, a center of culture, of health care, and of education—all
central elements to Rochester’s future. But we are now so much more.
We in the University community are all heirs to George Eastman’s vision.
We are also the stewards for the University’s future with implications
that are both global and local. What a legacy—and what a challenge!
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