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 twentieth, 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 diploma in Engineering. After commencement, he labored at a number of main pump firms as an utility engineer and regional manager.
In 1969, Harris was one of the four engineers who based Hydro, Inc. with the mission of offering engineering services to the pump aftermarket industry. From the beginning, Harris believed in bettering the reliability and performance of pumps and encouraging innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro started with a single store in Chicago; underneath Harris’s management and imaginative and prescient Hydro grew to become the biggest impartial aftermarket pump company 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 devoted to the shopper. He helped develop programs for customer training in pump processes, believing that the data of tips on how to safely maintain and operate pumps was something that must be shared with everyone. He spearheaded many innovations in the way pumps are serviced, using state-of-the-art know-how 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 so they worked side-by-side to make the company preeminent in the industry. Their management was characterised by a special commitment to their staff, who they handled like household. pressure gauge ไฮ ด รอ ลิ ค encouraged all service centres to honour Hydro’s workers with monthly employee celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as soon as mentioned: “Hydro turned the company it did due to the commitment of our people – 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 staff, many of whom have labored 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 most important association of pump trade producers in North America. In 2015, Europump awarded him its President’s Silver Award in recognition of his valuable contributions to the pump trade.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a personal tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and shortly realized that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who all the time expected greater than individuals had been prepared to supply. As an worker, I realized shortly that half-hearted measures have been unacceptable and an angle 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 world organization with 19 facilities worldwide is an amazing accomplishment. It took hard work, lengthy hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to develop the corporate as he did. He needed to be the most effective, he wanted the corporate to be the most effective, and he wanted each of his employees to be their finest.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny capacity to “see over the horizon” and could glimpse the lengthy run wants of the industry lengthy before others had digested final week’s changes.
There was also a side of George that most individuals never had the chance 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 workers as “adopted sons and daughters” they usually personally bore the burden of understanding that their enterprise selections not only affect the company however the well-being and safety of their employees and their families as nicely.
George will be deeply missed, however his legacy will live on. He hired what he thought-about the “best of breed” and people who shared his imaginative and prescient for the long run, and the company is saturated with like-minded individuals who will continue to grow the company well into the future.”
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