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 twentieth, 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 number of main pump companies as an software engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of the 4 engineers who founded Hydro, Inc. with the mission of providing engineering providers 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 became the biggest impartial aftermarket pump firm on the earth. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in nine nations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the culture of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and dedicated to the shopper. He helped develop applications for buyer training in pump processes, believing that the knowledge of tips on how to safely preserve and operate pumps was one thing that must be shared with everyone. He spearheaded many inventions in the way pumps are serviced, utilizing state-of-the-art know-how to re-engineer pumps for max effectivity.
Harris is survived by his spouse of 56 years, Rita, who he met whereas on the University of Illinois. She later became vice chairman of Hydro, and they labored side-by-side to make the company preeminent within the trade. Their management was characterised by a special commitment to their employees, who they handled like family. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s employees with monthly employee celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as quickly as stated: “Hydro turned the corporate it did due to the dedication of our individuals – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales employees – who all share a pivotal role in serving our customers.”
The culture of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises impressed admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s employees, lots of whom have labored at Hydro for more than 20 years. Harris was also well-respected by his peers within the pump business. In เกจวัดแรงดันน้ําไทวัสดุ , he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the largest affiliation of pump industry producers in North America. In 2015, Europump awarded him its President’s Silver Award in recognition of his valuable 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 all the time expected more than folks were prepared 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 global organization with 19 amenities worldwide is an incredible accomplishment. It took exhausting work, lengthy hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to develop the corporate as he did. He wanted to be the most effective, he wanted the corporate to be the most effective, 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 could glimpse the future needs of the industry lengthy earlier than others had digested final week’s adjustments.
There was additionally a side 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 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 understanding that their enterprise decisions not solely affect the company but the well-being and safety of their workers and their households as well.
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 imaginative and prescient for the lengthy run, and the company is saturated with like-minded people who will proceed to grow the company properly into the long run.”
Share