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 20th, 2021.
Born in Chicago in 1941, Harris came 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 worked at several major pump corporations as an application engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of the 4 engineers who based Hydro, Inc. with the mission of providing engineering services to the pump aftermarket industry. From the beginning, Harris believed in improving the reliability and performance of pumps and encouraging innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro began with a single shop in Chicago; under Harris’s leadership and imaginative and prescient Hydro grew to become the largest impartial aftermarket pump company in the world. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in nine nations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the tradition of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and devoted to the client. He helped develop programs for buyer training in pump processes, believing that the knowledge of tips on how to safely maintain and function pumps was something that ought to be shared with everyone. He spearheaded many inventions in the way in which pumps are serviced, utilizing state-of-the-art technology to re-engineer pumps for maximum effectivity.
Harris is survived by his wife of 56 years, Rita, who he met whereas at the University of Illinois. She later became vp of Hydro, and so they labored side-by-side to make the corporate preeminent within the business. Their leadership was characterised by a particular commitment to their staff, who they treated like household. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s workers with monthly worker celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as soon as stated: “Hydro turned the corporate it did due to the commitment of our individuals – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales workers – 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 staff, lots of whom have labored at Hydro for more than 20 years. Harris was also well-respected by his friends inside the pump trade. In เกวัดแรงดัน , he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the largest affiliation of pump trade manufacturers 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 personal tribute:
“I started with HydroAire in 1976 and rapidly learned that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who all the time expected greater than folks have been willing to provide. As an employee, I discovered shortly that half-hearted measures were unacceptable and an perspective 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 global organization with 19 services worldwide is an amazing accomplishment. It took hard work, lengthy hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to grow the company as he did. He needed to be the most effective, he wanted the company to be the best, and he wanted every of his staff to be their greatest.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny ability to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the longer term wants of the business lengthy before others had digested last week’s changes.
There was also a side 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 within the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita all the time handled their employees as “adopted sons and daughters” and they personally bore the burden of figuring out that their enterprise choices not only affect the corporate but the well-being and security of their workers and their families as nicely.
George will be deeply missed, but his legacy will reside on. He hired what he considered 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 continue to develop the company properly into the longer term.”
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