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 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 labored at a quantity of main pump companies as an application engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of many four engineers who based Hydro, Inc. with the mission of offering engineering companies to the pump aftermarket business. From the beginning, Harris believed in enhancing the reliability and performance of pumps and encouraging innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro began with a single store in Chicago; underneath Harris’s leadership and vision Hydro turned the most important independent aftermarket pump firm on the earth. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in 9 international locations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the culture of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and devoted to the shopper. He helped develop programs for buyer education in pump processes, believing that the data of tips on how to safely preserve and operate pumps was something that should be shared with everybody. He spearheaded many innovations in the way pumps are serviced, using state-of-the-art technology to re-engineer pumps for maximum effectivity.
Harris is survived by his spouse of fifty six years, Rita, who he met whereas at the University of Illinois. She later turned vice president of Hydro, and they labored side-by-side to make the company preeminent within the business. Their leadership was characterised by a particular commitment to their employees, who they handled like family. 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 company it did because of the commitment of our folks – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and gross sales employees – who all share a pivotal role in serving our prospects.”
The tradition of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises inspired admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s staff, lots of whom have worked at Hydro for greater than 20 years. เพชเชอร์เกจ was also well-respected by his peers throughout the pump business. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the largest affiliation of pump industry manufacturers in North America. In 2015, Europump awarded him its President’s Silver Award in recognition of his useful contributions to the pump business.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a personal tribute:
“I started with HydroAire in 1976 and shortly learned that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who at all times anticipated greater than individuals had been willing to supply. As an employee, I realized quickly 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 corporate into a global group with 19 amenities worldwide is an amazing accomplishment. It took hard work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to grow the company as he did. He wished to be the most effective, he wished the corporate to be the most effective, and he wanted every of his workers to be their greatest.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny ability to “see over the horizon” and could glimpse the future needs of the industry long before others had digested final week’s adjustments.
There was additionally 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 these within the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita always treated their workers as “adopted sons and daughters” they usually personally bore the burden of understanding that their enterprise selections not solely affect the company but the well-being and safety of their workers and their families as properly.
George will be deeply missed, however his legacy will stay on. He employed what he thought-about the “best of breed” and those who shared his imaginative and prescient for the longer term, and the company is saturated with like-minded individuals who will proceed to develop the corporate nicely into the future.”
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