Tributes paid to Hydro, Inc.’s president and founder.
George F. Harris, president and founder 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 degree in Engineering. After commencement, he worked at a number of major pump companies as an utility engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of the 4 engineers who founded Hydro, Inc. with the mission of providing engineering services to the pump aftermarket trade. From the beginning, Harris believed in enhancing the reliability and performance of pumps and inspiring innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro started with a single shop in Chicago; underneath Harris’s leadership and imaginative and prescient Hydro turned the largest impartial aftermarket pump firm on the earth. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in nine international locations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the tradition of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and devoted to the shopper. He helped develop programs for buyer schooling in pump processes, believing that the information of the means to safely maintain and function pumps was one thing that ought to be shared with everyone. He spearheaded many innovations in the way pumps are serviced, using state-of-the-art technology to re-engineer pumps for optimum efficiency.
Harris is survived by his wife of 56 years, Rita, who he met whereas on the University of Illinois. She later grew to become vp of Hydro, and they labored side-by-side to make the company preeminent within the trade. Their management was characterised by a particular dedication to their workers, who they handled like family. Secret inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s workers with month-to-month worker celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as soon as mentioned: “Hydro grew to become the corporate it did due to the dedication of our folks – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales staff – who all share a pivotal role in serving our customers.”
The tradition of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises inspired admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s workers, many of whom have labored at Hydro for greater than 20 years. Harris was also well-respected by his peers inside the pump business. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the largest association of pump trade producers in North America. In 2015, Europump awarded him its President’s Silver Award in recognition of his useful contributions to the pump trade.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a private tribute:
“I started with HydroAire in 1976 and shortly discovered that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who always anticipated more than folks have been keen to provide. As an worker, I learned rapidly that half-hearted measures have been unacceptable and an perspective of ‘good enough” was by no means 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 amazing accomplishment. It took onerous work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to develop the company as he did. He wished to be one of the best, he wished the company to be the most effective, and he wanted each of his staff to be their finest.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny capacity to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the future needs of the industry long earlier than others had digested last week’s modifications.
There was also a facet 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 within the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita all the time treated their employees as “adopted sons and daughters” they usually personally bore the burden of understanding that their business choices not only affect the corporate however the well-being and security of their staff and their families as nicely.
George will be deeply missed, but his legacy will live on. He employed what he thought-about the “best of breed” and people who shared his imaginative and prescient for the long run, and the corporate is saturated with like-minded people who will proceed to grow the company nicely into the future.”
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