Greece Historical Society meeting

TUESDAY MAY 10TH Greece Town Hall 7:00 p.m. Following a brief annual meeting and election of board members, the Greece Historical Society presents . . . . . . . . . . . . LEGENDARY KATE GLEASON COMES TO LIFE by Janis Gleason Kate Gleason, groundbreaking 19th century industrialist, mechanical engineer and real estate developer, was her own best invention. Living by the motto, “If I can, I will,” she engineered her own fate as an astute visionary—often regaled by the press as the “female mechanical genius with a Midas touch.” Kate Gleason was the first woman to be accepted into Cornell’s engineering program. While she did not finish at Cornell, she is credited with helping her family’s small business grow into a nationally recognized machinery producer. During her presidency at the First National Bank of East Rochester, Gleason started eight businesses, one of which built affordable homes for working families. She continued her construction efforts while rebuilding Berkeley, Calif., and the French village of Septmonts. Kate Gleason continued the activist role of her mother, Ellen, supporting woman's suffrage and bequeathing much of her estate to philanthropic causes after her death in 1933. JANIS GLEASON, a former board president of Writers & Books, is the author of this first definitive look at the life of Kate Gleason and her pioneering steps in the fields of business and engineering at a time when few women were allowed to be active in either. Her research over the past two decades has taken her from Rochester, to California, to South Carolina, and to France. Currently serving as vice president of the Gleason Family Foundation, Janis Gleason has won numerous awards for her contributions to literary arts and civic organizations, including the University of Rochester’s Robert F. Metzdorf Award and The Community Foundation’s Philanthropy Award. She is married to James S. Gleason, the chairman of Gleason Corporation and the grand-nephew of Kate Gleason. Following the program Mrs. Gleason will be available to autograph her new book "The Life & Letters of Kate Gleason", which will be available for sale. Soft cover $19.00 - hard cover $26.00