Tributes paid to Hydro, Inc.’s president and founder.
George F. Harris, president and founding father of Hydro, Inc.
Hydro, Inc. has introduced the passing of its president and founder, George F. Harris, on December twentieth, 2021.
Born in Chicago in 1941, Harris got here from humble beginnings, working as a waiter and a taxi driver. He attended the University of Illinois at Champaign and graduated with a Bachelor of Science diploma in Engineering. After commencement, he labored at several main pump firms as an software engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of the four engineers who based Hydro, Inc. with the mission of providing engineering services to the pump aftermarket business. From the start, Harris believed in improving the reliability and efficiency of pumps and inspiring innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro began with a single store in Chicago; under Harris’s leadership and imaginative and prescient Hydro turned the biggest impartial aftermarket pump company on the earth. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in nine nations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the culture of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and devoted to the customer. He helped develop applications for customer training in pump processes, believing that the knowledge of tips on how to safely preserve and operate pumps was one thing that ought to be shared with everybody. He spearheaded many innovations in the way in which pumps are serviced, using state-of-the-art technology to re-engineer pumps for maximum effectivity.
Harris is survived by his spouse of 56 years, Rita, who he met whereas on the University of Illinois. She later grew to become vice president of Hydro, and they worked side-by-side to make the corporate preeminent within the business. Their management was characterised by a particular dedication to their staff, who they handled like household. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s staff with monthly employee celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As เกจ์วัดความดัน stated: “Hydro turned the corporate it did due to the dedication of our folks – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and gross sales workers – who all share a pivotal role in serving our prospects.”
The tradition of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises impressed admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s staff, many of whom have labored at Hydro for more than 20 years. Harris was also well-respected by his friends throughout the pump business. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the most important association of pump industry manufacturers in North America. In 2015, Europump awarded him its President’s Silver Award in recognition of his valuable contributions to the pump trade.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a private tribute:
“I started with HydroAire in 1976 and rapidly realized that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who all the time expected more than folks had been willing to offer. As an employee, I learned rapidly that half-hearted measures have been unacceptable and an angle of ‘good enough” was never tolerated. To suppose that he took a rag-tag group of 5 street-wise salesmen and turned the company into a worldwide group with 19 facilities worldwide is an incredible accomplishment. It took onerous work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to grow the company as he did. He needed to be the best, he wanted the corporate to be one of the best, and he needed every of his staff to be their finest.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny capability to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the longer term wants of the business long earlier than others had digested final week’s adjustments.
There was also a side of George that most individuals by no means had the chance to see: As tenacious a businessman as he was, he was equally generous and caring to these in the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita always handled their staff as “adopted sons and daughters” and they personally bore the burden of figuring out that their business choices not solely have an effect on the company however the well-being and safety of their workers and their families as well.
George shall be deeply missed, however his legacy will reside on. He employed what he thought-about the “best of breed” and those that shared his vision for the lengthy run, and the corporate is saturated with like-minded people who will proceed to develop the corporate properly into the longer term.”
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