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 commencement, he worked at several major pump firms as an software engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of many four engineers who based Hydro, Inc. with the mission of offering engineering companies to the pump aftermarket industry. From the start, Harris believed in improving the reliability and performance of pumps and encouraging innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro began with a single shop in Chicago; underneath Harris’s management and imaginative and prescient Hydro turned the largest unbiased aftermarket pump company on the earth. 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 programs for buyer schooling in pump processes, believing that the knowledge of tips on how to safely keep 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 technology to re-engineer pumps for max efficiency.
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 corporate preeminent in the trade. Their management was characterised by a particular dedication to their staff, who they handled like household. They encouraged all service centres to honour Hydro’s staff with month-to-month employee celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he once said: “Hydro became the company it did because of the dedication of our individuals – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and gross sales staff – who all share a pivotal role in serving our clients.”
The tradition of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises inspired admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s staff, a lot of whom have worked at Hydro for greater than 20 years. Harris was also well-respected by his peers within the pump industry. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the most important affiliation 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 business.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a personal tribute:
“I started with HydroAire in 1976 and quickly discovered that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who at all times anticipated greater than folks were prepared to offer. As an employee, I discovered shortly that half-hearted measures had been unacceptable and an attitude 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 world organization with 19 amenities worldwide is an incredible accomplishment. It took hard work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to grow the company as he did. He needed to be the most effective, he needed the company to be one of the best, and he needed every of his staff to be their finest.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny capacity to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the future wants of the trade lengthy earlier than others had digested final week’s modifications.
There was also pressure gauge 10 bar 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 these within the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita always handled their staff as “adopted sons and daughters” and they personally bore the burden of knowing that their business selections not solely affect the corporate however the well-being and security of their staff and their households as well.
George might be deeply missed, however his legacy will live on. He hired what he thought of the “best of breed” and those that shared his imaginative and prescient for the future, and the corporate is saturated with like-minded individuals who will continue to develop the company well into the future.”
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