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 announced 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. เพรสเชอร์เกจ attended the University of Illinois at Champaign and graduated with a Bachelor of Science diploma in Engineering. After graduation, he labored at several major pump firms as an application engineer and regional manager.
In 1969, Harris was one of many four engineers who based Hydro, Inc. with the mission of offering engineering services to the pump aftermarket industry. From the start, Harris believed in enhancing the reliability and performance of pumps and inspiring innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro began with a single shop in Chicago; underneath Harris’s leadership and imaginative and prescient Hydro turned the biggest independent aftermarket pump company on the earth. Today, 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 customer. He helped develop packages for customer schooling in pump processes, believing that the data of tips on how to safely maintain and operate pumps was something that must be shared with everybody. He spearheaded many innovations in the finest way pumps are serviced, utilizing state-of-the-art expertise to re-engineer pumps for max effectivity.
Harris is survived by his wife of fifty six years, Rita, who he met whereas at the University of Illinois. She later turned vice president of Hydro, and they labored side-by-side to make the company preeminent in the business. Their leadership was characterised by a particular commitment to their workers, who they treated like family. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s employees with month-to-month worker celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as soon as said: “Hydro became the company it did because of the commitment of our people – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales workers – who all share a pivotal function in serving our clients.”

The culture of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises impressed admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s staff, lots of whom have labored at Hydro for greater than 20 years. Harris was additionally well-respected by his friends within the pump business. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the largest 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 industry.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a personal tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and shortly discovered that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who at all times anticipated greater than folks had been keen to provide. As an worker, I learned shortly that half-hearted measures were unacceptable and an perspective 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 group with 19 amenities worldwide is a tremendous accomplishment. ไดอะแฟรม took hard work, lengthy hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to develop the company as he did. He wished to be one of the best, he wished the corporate to be the best, and he wished each of his staff to be their best.
pressure gauge was a gifted particular person who had the uncanny ability to “see over the horizon” and could glimpse the long run needs of the industry lengthy earlier than others had digested last week’s changes.
There was additionally a aspect 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 these in the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita at all times handled their staff as “adopted sons and daughters” and so they personally bore the burden of understanding that their enterprise selections not solely have an result on the corporate however the well-being and safety of their staff and their households as properly.
George shall be deeply missed, however his legacy will stay on. He hired what he considered the “best of breed” and people who shared his vision for the future, and the corporate is saturated with like-minded individuals who will proceed to develop the company nicely into the longer term.”

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