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 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 graduation, he labored at a quantity of major pump corporations as an utility 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 start, Harris believed in enhancing the reliability and performance of pumps and inspiring innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro began with a single store in Chicago; underneath Harris’s management and imaginative and prescient Hydro became the largest independent aftermarket pump firm in the world. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in 9 international locations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the tradition of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and dedicated to the client. pressure gauge helped develop applications for buyer training in pump processes, believing that the data of the means to safely maintain and function pumps was something that ought to be shared with everyone. He spearheaded many innovations in the greatest way pumps are serviced, using state-of-the-art technology to re-engineer pumps for optimum effectivity.
Harris is survived by his spouse of fifty six years, Rita, who he met whereas at the University of Illinois. She later grew to become vp of Hydro, they usually worked side-by-side to make the company preeminent within the industry. Their management was characterised by a particular dedication to their workers, who they treated like household. They encouraged all service centres to honour Hydro’s employees with month-to-month employee celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as soon as stated: “Hydro became the company it did due to the commitment of our folks – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and gross sales staff – who all share a pivotal role in serving our clients.”
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 greater than 20 years. Harris was additionally well-respected by his friends inside the pump industry. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the largest association of pump trade manufacturers in North America. In 2015, Europump awarded him its President’s Silver Award in recognition of his priceless contributions to the pump industry.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a personal tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and quickly learned that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who all the time anticipated more than folks had been prepared to supply. As an employee, I discovered rapidly that half-hearted measures had been unacceptable and an attitude 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 corporate into a global 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 needed to be the best, he wished the corporate to be one of the best, and he needed each of his staff to be their greatest.
George was a gifted particular person who had the uncanny ability to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the future needs of the business lengthy earlier than others had digested final week’s modifications.
There was also a side of George that most people never had the opportunity to see: As tenacious a businessman as he was, he was equally beneficiant and caring to those in the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita at all times treated their employees as “adopted sons and daughters” and they personally bore the burden of understanding that their enterprise choices not solely have an effect on the corporate but the well-being and safety of their workers and their families as nicely.
George shall be deeply missed, but his legacy will reside on. He hired what he thought of the “best of breed” and those that shared his vision for the longer term, and the corporate is saturated with like-minded people who will proceed to grow the corporate properly into the longer term.”
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