Re: Eastman suicide

Luis Nadeau (awef6t@mi.net)
Sat, 22 Jun 1996 19:06:12 +0300

>At 07:15 PM 6/21/96 +0000, you wrote:
>>Someone sent the following to my graphics group:
>>
>>>In 1927 George Eastman committed suicide because he felt
>>>that everything in photography had been invented.
>>
>>Is that true?
>>
>>-------------------------
>NO! George Eastman committed suicide (by gun to head) on March 14, 1932,
-------------------------------
I saw the room where he did it. The details I recall may not be accurate
now but I seem to remember that the gun was a Luger and that he shot
himself in the heart. I'm less sure about the last part however.

As if it mattered...

>after leaving most of his wealth to the University of Rochester.
>
>The note he left read "My work is done, why wait"

I think this is exact. This is understandable IMO. Most of us, most of the
time, treat life as if somehow we could get out of it alive. There comes a
time however when we have to face the inevitable. It's not a question of
"if"; it's a question of "when". He apparently was in continuous pain
because of serious back problems. He certainly did not have anything else
to achieve in life, hence his comments "my work is done, why wait".

There may also have been another reason as to why he did not feel welcome
in this world but this, strangely enough, is never discussed in history
books.

Luis Nadeau
Fredericton, NB, Canada
http://www.micronet.fr/~deriencg/nadeau.html
http://www.primenet.com/~dbarto/lnadeau.html