Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/07/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Larry, Thanks for the info. I have been to Rochester, to meet the CFOs of Kodak and Bausch & Lomb, long ago in 1988, when I was working for Citibank. Don't remember too much of the place - it was a day trip from New York. Cheers Jayanand Sent from my iPad > On 22-Jul-2014, at 9:25 pm, Larry Zeitlin via LUG <lug at leica-users.org> > wrote: > > Jayanand, > Interesting and very true piece on Rochester. For several decades > Rochester was the center of the optical industry in the USA. Not only > Kodak but Haloid (now Xerox), Bausch and Lomb, and a number of other > optical companies were located in or near Rochester. Even before that > Rochester was a center of agriculture and was originally known as the > Flour City. The climate is hot in summer, cold in winter, and damp all the > time. The proximity to Lake Ontario produces deep drifts of "lake effect" > snow in frigid weather. The profitability of the optical industry and the > benevolence of it's owners pumped tons of money into charitable > institutions, hospitals, and education. Rochester often rated high on the > list of the best places to live in the USA. > > I am biased, of course. I have relatives who live in the city and its > suburbs. Many of the horse racing pictures on my LUG gallery were taken at > the nearby Finger Lakes race track and two of my children went to Cornell > University. I was also a consultant (and a stockholder) of Kodak. But > Kodak's decline threw a wrench into the gears. Employment dropped by > nearly 75%. Beautiful homes are now cheap, probably the lowest price in NY > state. Film, the company's cash cow, was to provide income for 20 years. > Instead film sales dropped 90% in 7 years. And this was the company that > invented digital photography. Bad, bad management judgment calls. Kodak's > stock dropped from $88 per share to bankruptcy levels. Even Kodak > executives use their iPhones to take pictures. > > Leica, are you listening? The world is changing. See Jayanand's post for > pictorial details. > > Larry Z > > - - - > http://www.themorningnews.org/gallery/kodak-city > > Cheers > Jayanand > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information