Kodak's demise is a sad image

Few American companies have a grander history than Kodak, which generated jobs, technology and civic institutions for its home city of Rochester.

Now, in yet another blow to upstate New York, Kodak appears to be preparing a possible filing for bankruptcy protection, potentially adding its name to a long list of great companies that no longer dominate the region.

Yet it's far too soon for regional obituaries. Rochester itself, like Buffalo, is beset by poverty and crime within city limits. But upstate New York, as a region, has probably bottomed out. Unemployment in the Rochester metro area is about the same as on Long Island, well below the national figure.

Upstate New York never had much of a housing bubble, so it never had much of a housing bust. The big factories mostly closed long ago, so today the area is no longer bleeding population. It has assets, too, such as hydropower, skilled workers and universities, although it isn't drawing college graduates or immigrants, both of which could spur needed growth

So Kodak isn't vital to the region, but it is worth mourning, even if it's the victim of a revolutionary technology -- digital imaging -- that it pioneered but failed to exploit. In its prime it was innovative, paternalistic, and a magnet for talent. It was also very much a part of family life, enabling millions of middle-class Americans to capture their loved ones in images affordable, yet priceless. Kodak didn't just sell cameras; it sold immortality.