Tributes paid to Hydro, Inc.’s president and founder.
George F. Harris, president and founder of Hydro, Inc.
Hydro, Inc. has announced 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 graduation, he labored at a quantity of major pump corporations as an software engineer and regional manager.
In 1969, Harris was one of many four engineers who based Hydro, Inc. with the mission of offering engineering services to the pump aftermarket industry. From the start, Harris believed in enhancing the reliability and efficiency of pumps and inspiring innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro started with a single store in Chicago; under Harris’s management and vision Hydro became the biggest unbiased aftermarket pump company in the world. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in 9 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 education in pump processes, believing that the data of tips on how to safely preserve and operate pumps was one thing that ought to be shared with everyone. He spearheaded many inventions in the way pumps are serviced, utilizing state-of-the-art technology to re-engineer pumps for max efficiency.
Harris is survived by his wife of 56 years, Rita, who he met whereas on the University of Illinois. She later turned vp of Hydro, and so they worked side-by-side to make the corporate preeminent in the business. Their management was characterised by a special commitment to their workers, who they handled like household. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s staff with monthly worker celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as quickly as mentioned: “Hydro became the corporate it did due to the dedication of our people – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales employees – who all share a pivotal position in serving our prospects.”
The culture of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises impressed admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s staff, lots of whom have worked at Hydro for greater than 20 years. เกจวัดแรงดันลมคือ was also well-respected by his friends within the pump trade. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the most important affiliation 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 industry.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a private tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and rapidly learned that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who always expected greater than individuals have been prepared to provide. As an worker, I realized quickly that half-hearted measures were unacceptable and an angle of ‘good enough” was never tolerated. To assume that he took a rag-tag group of 5 street-wise salesmen and turned the company into a worldwide organization with 19 facilities worldwide is an incredible accomplishment. It took hard work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to grow the company as he did. He needed to be the most effective, he needed the company to be the best, and he needed each of his employees to be their finest.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny ability to “see over the horizon” and could glimpse the lengthy run needs of the industry lengthy earlier than others had digested final week’s adjustments.
There was additionally a aspect of George that most people by no means had the chance to see: As tenacious a businessman as he was, he was equally generous and caring to those in the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita at all times handled their workers as “adopted sons and daughters” they usually personally bore the burden of understanding that their enterprise selections not only have an effect on the corporate but the well-being and security of their employees and their households as well.
George shall be deeply missed, however his legacy will stay on. He hired what he considered the “best of breed” and those that shared his imaginative and prescient for the future, and the company is saturated with like-minded individuals who will proceed to grow the corporate well into the future.”
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