George F. Harris – An Appreciation

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 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 number of major pump companies as an application engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of many 4 engineers who founded Hydro, Inc. with the mission of offering engineering providers to the pump aftermarket industry. From the start, Harris believed in bettering the reliability and efficiency of pumps and encouraging innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro began with a single store in Chicago; under Harris’s management and imaginative and prescient Hydro grew to become the most important independent aftermarket pump company on the earth. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in nine countries.
Harris was instrumental in defining the culture of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and dedicated to the shopper. He helped develop packages for customer schooling in pump processes, believing that the data of tips on how to safely maintain and function pumps was one thing that must be shared with everybody. He spearheaded many innovations in the way in which pumps are serviced, utilizing state-of-the-art expertise to re-engineer pumps for max efficiency.
Harris is survived by his spouse of fifty six years, Rita, who he met whereas on the University of Illinois. She later became vice president of Hydro, they usually worked side-by-side to make the company preeminent within the trade. Their leadership was characterised by a special dedication to their staff, who they treated like household. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s workers with month-to-month worker celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as quickly as stated: “Hydro turned the corporate it did due to the commitment of our people – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and gross sales employees – who all share a pivotal function in serving our clients.”
The tradition of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises inspired admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s employees, lots of whom have worked at Hydro for greater than 20 years. Harris was also well-respected by his peers inside the pump business. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the largest affiliation of pump trade producers in North America. In 2015, Europump awarded him its President’s Silver Award in recognition of his priceless contributions to the pump business.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a private tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and rapidly discovered that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who always expected more than people have been willing to provide. As an employee, I discovered rapidly that half-hearted measures had been unacceptable and an perspective of ‘good enough” was by no means tolerated. To think that he took a rag-tag group of 5 street-wise salesmen and turned the company into a world organization with 19 services worldwide is a tremendous accomplishment. It took hard work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to grow the company as he did. เกจวัดแรงดันอากาศ wanted to be the most effective, he wished the corporate to be the best, and he wanted every of his workers to be their finest.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny capability to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the lengthy run wants of the trade long earlier than others had digested last week’s modifications.
There was additionally a facet of George that most individuals never had the opportunity to see: As tenacious a businessman as he was, he was equally generous and caring to these in the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita at all times handled their employees as “adopted sons and daughters” they usually personally bore the burden of knowing that their business selections not solely affect the corporate but the well-being and safety of their staff and their households as well.
George shall be deeply missed, but his legacy will live on. He hired what he thought of the “best of breed” and people who shared his imaginative and prescient for the longer term, and the corporate is saturated with like-minded people who will continue to develop the corporate well into the long run.”
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