Hall of Fame picks inaugural class of 13 business leaders

Kathryn Quinn Thomas//July 27, 2001//

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The Rochester Business Hall of Fame has chosen its inaugural slate of 13 honorees for its permanent local business exhibit at the Strong Museum.
Rochester Business Hall of Fame founders plan a black-tie, $125-per-person dinner at the Hyatt Regency Rochester on Oct. 11 to pay tribute to the inductees.
Junior Achievement of Rochester, New York Area Inc. and the Rochester Business Journal announced plans in March to create an annual event and permanent display to recognize prominent local businesspeople for their achievement and entrepreneurial spirit. The Strong exhibit will highlight the roles played by the area’s top business leaders-living and deceased-over the course of Roches-ter’s history.
The 2001 class of Rochester Business Hall of Fame inductees are:
— John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb; Bausch, an optical-goods manufacturer, and Lomb, his friend and partner, who in 1853 co-founded Bausch & Lomb Inc., a company with net sales of $1.7 billion in 2000;
— Chester Carlson, inventor of xerography, patented in 1937, a dry photocopy process that gave Xerox Corp. its name;
— George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Co., considered the father of modern photography, and a philanthropist who shaped much of 20th century Rochester;
— Frank Gannett, a newspaper publisher who began his publishing career in Elmira in 1906, and grew the company into a media empire, Gannett Co. Inc.;
— James Gleason, chairman and CEO of Gleason Corp., founded in 1865 and a global leader in gearing technology;
— Kate Gleason, the first female engineering student in the nation, first female member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, first female bank president and a principal figure in the history of her family’s business, Gleason Corp.;
— Thomas Golisano, founder, chairman and CEO of Paychex Inc., the Penfield-based payroll and human resource services company that saw 2000 sales of $728 million;
— Marvin Sands, a local entrepreneur who bought a small Finger Lakes bulk- wine producer in 1945 that grew into Constellation Brands Inc., with sales of $2.3 billion in 2000;
— Richard Sands, chairman, president and CEO of Constellation Brands, one of the largest producers and marketers of branded alcohol beverage products in North America and the United Kingdom;
— Austin Steward, author, orator, and Rochester’s earliest-known African-American businessperson;
— Robert Wegman, chairman of Wegmans Food Markets Inc., who made over the local grocery outlet into an internationally known regional chain and one of the largest employers in the state;
— Joseph Wilson, former Xerox Corp. president, who used Carlson’s photocopy process to develop and popularize the plain-paper copier that turned Xerox into a household name.
“Rochester Business Journal is delighted to partner in this initiative to recognize Rochester’s outstanding business leaders,” said Susan Holliday, president and publisher.
“The permanent exhibit at Strong Museum will lend an aspect to this award unlike any other award given in Rochester,” she added. “Entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership and community involvement are critical to the long-term vitality of our community. This award recognizes those contributions.”
The planned hall of fame is modeled in part on the Junior Achievement National Business Hall of Fame, a highly interactive exhibit housed at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.
“We want to give young people a better understanding of Rochester business and the importance of the free enterprise system,” said Andrew Portanova, president and CEO of Junior Achievement. “With this exhibit, generations will be able to learn from the past and use the information to help the future.”
The Strong Museum exhibit will provide interpretive background on the honorees and their business achievements.
The interactive components will include an exhibit that demonstrates how a manufacturing assembly line works, organizers said. Museum guests also will be able to work in teams to assemble simulated automobiles and cameras. The installation of the Hall of Fame will be part of a multifaceted renovation of the museum’s second floor.
“(Hosting the Rochester Business Hall of Fame) is a natural extension of our educational mission and our commitment to the community,” said Rollie Adams, president and CEO of the museum. “Strong’s collections are nearly all mass-manufactured consumer goods, and our key interpretive themes are progress, class, and identity. All of these relate to business enterprise in one way or another.
“The Hall of Fame installation will be part of an artifact-rich and highly interactive larger installation titled ‘Making Things Happen,’ which includes interpretation of both industrialization and immigration.”