Birth Name: | Henry Alvah Strong |
Birth Date: | 30 August 1838 |
Birth Place: | Rochester, New York, US |
Death Place: | Rochester, New York, US |
Occupation: | Photography businessman, inventor |
Signature: | Signature of Henry Alvah Strong (1838–1919).png |
Henry Alvah Strong (August 30, 1838 – July 26, 1919) was an American photography businessman. He was the first president of the Eastman Kodak Company.[1] [2] [3]
Henry Strong was born on August 30, 1838, in Rochester, New York.[4] He graduated from Wyoming Academy in 1858. On August 30, 1859, he married Helen Phoebe Griffin. They had three children: Gertrude Achilles, Helen Carter, and Henry G. Strong. After Helen's death in 1904 from diabetes, he married Hattie (Corrin) Lockwood on June 14, 1905.[5] He adopted her son, Corrin, and the family returned to Rochester, New York.[6]
Strong held a lead position in his family's buggy whip manufacturing company prior to meeting George Eastman in 1870. The two entered a partnership in 1880 and the Eastman Dry Plate Company was founded on January 1, 1881, with Strong as president and Eastman as treasurer. It would later become Eastman Kodak Company.[2]
Strong died at his home in Rochester on July 26, 1919.[4]
Numerous buildings in Rochester, notably Strong Memorial Hospital and Strong Auditorium at the University of Rochester were built from his philanthropy.