Arthur Clarke Eastwood 
pages 475-477
Portrait

GREAT achievements always excite admiration. Men of deeds are the men whom the world delights to honor. Ours is an age representing the most phenomenal progress in all lines of material activity, and the man of initiative is the one who forges to the front in the industrial world. Among the leaders of the younger generation of men of affairs in Ohio during the generation that has just passed, a place of priority must be awarded to the late Arthur Clarke Eastwood, for to him was due the upbuilding of an industry which was not only one of the most important of its kind but also one of the most extensive in the city of Cleveland and this section of the Union. Although but a young man, he was president of the well-known firm of the Electrical Controller & Supply Company. By his own indomitable courage, the careful development of his genius, and the exercise of his rare business acumen, he had gradually risen to a foremost place among the electricians of the world, both as manager of electrical companies and as an inventor. The comparatively brief time in which he obtained pronounced results as a man of affairs further testifies to his exceptional administrative ability and executive power. In reviewing his brilliant but brief record, one cannot help speculating as to what dazzling heights he would have attained had the decrees of Fate permitted him to live out man's allotted three-score and ten years. Doubtless he would have been ranked as one of the world's greatest benefactors.
Mr. Eastwood was the scion of a fine old Southern family, and he was born inLouisville, Kentucky, February 11, 1877. He received his early education in the public schools of his native city, later graduating from the University of Louisville, after which he received his technical training in the Rose Polytechnic Institute, Terre Haute, Indiana. He was a very apt and ambitious pupil and made an excellent record in both the above-named institutions; in fact, he remained a close student all his life and kept fully abreast of the times in his special field of endeavor. Shortly after graduation from college, in 1898, he entered the electrical engineering department of the Homestead Steel Works,' and was associated with A. C. Dinkey in the first extensive applications of electrical power in the manufacture of steel. After reaching the top at these mills so far as he specialized in the role of electrical engineer, he accepted a position as electrical engineer in the great mills of the Tennessee Coal, Iron, & Railroad Company, then being built at Ensley, Alabama. While there, his exceptionally fine work attracted the attention of S. T. Wellman, who persuaded him to go to Cleveland, Ohio, to accept the position of electrical engineer for the Wellman-Seaver Engineering Company for the newly formed Electric Controller & Manufacturing Company.
As a result of Mr. Eastwood's wonderful inventive ability, the growth of the last-named concern was so rapid that he was soon forced to give the business his entire attention and was made general manager of the company, also chief engineer of the same. Under his able direction and wise foresight, the business of the same grew by leaps and bounds and soon made a fortune for the stockholders. He soon had everything under a superb system and installed many new devices, hitherto but little known in the electrical world; indeed, some of them never known before, for with the keen eye of the born inventor he was all the time adding some new device, both practical and economical.
About 1905, Mr. Eastwood and his associates reorganized the company, changing the name to the Electric Controller & Manufacturing Company, at which time he became active head of both the financial and engineering departments of the business, and this position he continued to hold to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned until his untimely death. An insight into his close application and inventive skill will be seen when it is known that he was the patentee of nearly one hundred inventions, covering all phases of electrical control and power generation. It is not too much to say that these inventions revolutionized the electrical business in this country. His chief invention and the one of which he was the proudest was the celebrated lifting magnet, now so extensively used both in America and in foreign countries. The development of this great invention was entirely his own work, and its perfection has saved the steel industry many millions of dollars. However, his inventive ability was probably one of the less important factors in his success. His personality was of such a winning nature that he was enabled to build up an organization of devoted and loyal assistants. He was a keen judge of men and human nature in general and he never made a mistake in his estimate of a man.
Mr. Eastwood's research along electrical machinery lines won him a gold medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, 1904. As a result of his work he was elected a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Less than one hundred men have been thus honored. He was also a member of Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, a very exclusive organization, its membership comprising only the distinguished engineers of the country. He was a member of the Union Club and the Mayfield Country Club of Cleveland, and the Engineers' Club of New York, the New York Railroad Club and numerous other commercial and scientific organizations.
Arthur C. Eastwood was the son of S. S. and Alice (Stone) Eastwood, for many years a highly esteemed family of Louisville, Kentucky. He was the second in order of birth in a family of four children, only two of whom survive at this writing—Miss Alice Eastwood, of Louisville, and Harry Eastwood, of Cleveland. The latter was associated with him in business.
Mr. Eastwood never sought publicity in any way or offices of political preferment, being too deeply interested in his chosen life work—that of an electrical engineer and inventor of electrical appliances—and he received the highest degree in his special field of endeavor that could be given. He was a man of quiet, sedate, thoughtful, and retrospective nature, always reserved and un- assuming, with the bearing of a scholar and man of genius, who thought more of doing efficient work that would bless the world than of his own personal advancement or the plaudits of his fellow men. He tried to cast his ballot for the best man in politics, however, had a leaning toward the Republican party. He was a worthy member and liberal supporter of the Emanuel Episcopal Church of Cleveland. He belonged to the Fraternity of the Rose Polytechnic Institute.
Mr. Eastwood was married, on January 3, 1901, to Miss Lucy Sharpe, a lady of culture and many commendable traits which have made her a favorite with the best circles in Cleveland and her home city, Birmingham, Alabama, where her family has long been prominent. She is a daughter of Judge H. A. and Mary (Hansell) Sharpe. Her father has long ranked among the leading judges and men of public influence in the South and is widely and favorably known. He has served with great credit and fidelity on the bench for a period of thirty years and is now judge of the Circuit Court at Birmingham. He has served on the bench of the Supreme Court of Alabama. He is regarded as a man of rare talent along judicial lines, having few peers and no superiors among the eminent jurists of the Southern States. His family consists of four children, named as follows: Mrs. William M. Jordan, of Birmingham, is the mother of three children, Elizabeth, Florence, and Augustus; Mrs. P. G. Shook, also a resident of Birmingham, is the mother of three children, Mary Hansell, Margaret, and Paschal; Mrs. A. M. Lynn, of New York City, has one child, Henry Sharpe Lynn; and Lucy, who became the wife of Mr. Eastwood of this memoir.
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Eastwood was blessed by the birth of three children, all of whom survive, namely: Mary Alice, George Stone, and Lucy Sharpe Eastwood.
Arthur C. Eastwood was called to his eternal rest at Battle Creek, Michigan, October 17, 1916, at the early age of thirty-nine years. The end was unexpected and came after a short illness, due very largely, it is believed, to his too great zeal in his life work, sacrificing himself for the good of humanity, for his chief aim seemed to be to make the world better for his having lived, to give to humanity devices that would lighten their labor and make life for the masses more worth while. He was in every way a grand character and greatly beloved by hosts of warm friends and acquaintances who will long deeply regret his untimely passing.

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