Kate Gleason
| Kate Gleason | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Catherine Anselm Gleason November 25, 1865 Rochester, New York |
| Died | January 9, 1933 (aged 67) Rochester, New York |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Resting place |
Riverside Cemetery, Rochester, New York 43°13′05″N 77°37′40″W / 43.218013°N 77.627647°W |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Cornell University |
| Occupation | Engineer and businesswoman |
| Parent(s) | William Gleason Ellen McDermott |
Catherine Anselm "Kate" Gleason (November 25, 1865 – January 9, 1933) was an American engineer and businesswoman known both for being an accomplished woman in the predominantly male field of engineering and for her philanthropy.
Catherine Anselm Gleason was born the first of four children of William and Ellen McDermott Gleason of Rochester, New York, émigrés from Ireland. Her father was the owner of a machine tool company, later named Gleason Works, which later became one of the most important makers of gear-cutting machine tools in the world. When she was 11, her stepbrother Tom died of typhoid fever, causing hardship at her father's company because Tom had been an important helper. At the age of 12 she began working for her father to fill the void left by Tom's death. In 1884, she was the first woman to be admitted to study engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, although she was unable to complete her studies at Cornell due to her required presence in the factory. She continued her studies upon returning to Rochester at the Mechanics Institute, later renamed Rochester Institute of Technology. She was actively involved as the treasurer as well as saleswoman for Gleason Works. In 1893, she toured Europe to expand the company's business, one of the first times an American manufacturer tried to globalize their business. Today, international sales make up almost 3/4 of the company's business.
Fred H. Colvin described Kate Gleason in his memoirs as "a kind of Madame Curie of machine tools […] Kate spent her youth learning her father's business from the ground up, both in the shop and in the field, so that when she branched out for herself about 1895 as a saleswoman for her father's gear-cutting machines, she knew as much as any man in the business."
Ellen Gleason was a friend of fellow Rochesterian Susan B. Anthony, and Kate Gleason later cited Anthony as a source of advice. Gleason undertook several efforts supporting Women's Suffrage after Anthony's death.
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