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 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 software engineer and regional manager.
In เกจวัดแรงดันสูญญากาศ , Harris was one of the 4 engineers who founded Hydro, Inc. with the mission of offering engineering providers to the pump aftermarket industry. From the start, Harris believed in enhancing the reliability and performance of pumps and encouraging innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro started with a single shop in Chicago; underneath Harris’s leadership and vision Hydro grew to become the biggest impartial aftermarket pump company on the planet. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in nine international locations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the culture of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and devoted to the shopper. He helped develop packages for customer schooling in pump processes, believing that the knowledge of how to safely keep and function pumps was one thing that ought to be shared with everybody. He spearheaded many innovations in the method in which pumps are serviced, utilizing state-of-the-art expertise to re-engineer pumps for optimum effectivity.
Harris is survived by his spouse of fifty six years, Rita, who he met whereas on the University of Illinois. She later became vp of Hydro, they usually labored side-by-side to make the corporate preeminent in the trade. Their management was characterised by a special dedication to their staff, who they handled like family. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s workers with month-to-month worker celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he once said: “Hydro grew to become the company it did due to the commitment of our individuals – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and gross sales workers – who all share a pivotal role in serving our prospects.”
The culture of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises inspired admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s staff, a lot of whom have labored at Hydro for greater than 20 years. Harris was also well-respected by his friends within the pump trade. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the largest association of pump business manufacturers 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 learned that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who always anticipated greater than individuals had been prepared to supply. As an worker, I learned quickly that half-hearted measures had been unacceptable and an attitude of ‘good enough” was never tolerated. To suppose that he took a rag-tag group of 5 street-wise salesmen and turned the company into a worldwide organization with 19 facilities worldwide is an amazing accomplishment. It took exhausting work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to develop the corporate as he did. He wanted to be the best, he wished the corporate to be one of the best, and he wished each of his staff to be their best.
George was a gifted particular person who had the uncanny capability to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the longer term wants of the trade long before others had digested last week’s changes.
There was also a facet 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 workers as “adopted sons and daughters” and so they personally bore the burden of understanding that their business choices not only affect the company but the well-being and security of their workers and their families as well.
George will be deeply missed, however his legacy will live on. He hired what he thought of the “best of breed” and people who shared his vision for the future, and the corporate is saturated with like-minded people who will proceed to grow the company nicely into the future.”
Share

Leave a Comment