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 quantity of major pump corporations as an software engineer and regional manager.
In 1969, Harris was one of many four engineers who based Hydro, Inc. with the mission of providing engineering companies to the pump aftermarket business. From the start, Harris believed in bettering the reliability and efficiency of pumps and inspiring innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro began with a single shop in Chicago; beneath Harris’s management and imaginative and prescient Hydro turned the largest impartial aftermarket pump firm on the earth. pressure gauge trerice ราคา , Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in 9 international locations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the tradition of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and devoted to the shopper. He helped develop packages for buyer training in pump processes, believing that the data of the means to safely maintain and function pumps was something that must be shared with everyone. He spearheaded many innovations in the best way pumps are serviced, using state-of-the-art expertise to re-engineer pumps for maximum efficiency.
Harris is survived by his wife of fifty six years, Rita, who he met while at the University of Illinois. She later became vp of Hydro, they usually worked side-by-side to make the company preeminent within the business. Their management was characterised by a special commitment to their employees, who they handled like household. They encouraged all service centres to honour Hydro’s workers with monthly employee celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as quickly as said: “Hydro turned the company it did due to the commitment of our folks – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and gross sales employees – who all share a pivotal function in serving our customers.”
The culture of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises impressed admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s workers, many of whom have labored at Hydro for greater than 20 years. Harris was also well-respected by his peers inside the pump industry. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the biggest association of pump industry manufacturers 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 private tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and rapidly realized that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who at all times anticipated greater than people had been prepared to offer. As an worker, I discovered quickly that half-hearted measures have been unacceptable and an perspective of ‘good enough” was by no means tolerated. To assume that he took a rag-tag group of 5 street-wise salesmen and turned the company into a worldwide organization with 19 services 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 wished to be the best, he wished the corporate to be the best, and he wanted every of his workers to be their finest.
George was a gifted particular person who had the uncanny capacity to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the lengthy run wants of the trade lengthy before others had digested final week’s changes.
There was also a side of George that most people never had the opportunity to see: As tenacious a businessman as he was, he was equally beneficiant and caring to those within the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita at all times handled their workers as “adopted sons and daughters” and so they personally bore the burden of figuring out that their enterprise decisions not solely affect the corporate but the well-being and security of their employees and their households as properly.
George will be deeply missed, however his legacy will reside on. He hired what he thought-about the “best of breed” and those that shared his imaginative and prescient for the long run, and the company is saturated with like-minded individuals who will continue to grow the corporate properly into the future.”
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