Tributes paid to Hydro, Inc.’s president and founder.
George F. Harris, president and founding father of Hydro, Inc.
Hydro, Inc. has announced 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 diploma in Engineering. After graduation, he worked at several main pump companies as an utility engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of the 4 engineers who founded Hydro, Inc. with the mission of offering engineering companies to the pump aftermarket trade. From the beginning, Harris believed in improving the reliability and efficiency of pumps and encouraging innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro started with a single store in Chicago; beneath Harris’s management and imaginative and prescient Hydro grew to become the biggest independent aftermarket pump firm on the planet. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in 9 countries.
Harris was instrumental in defining the culture of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and dedicated to the customer. He helped develop packages for customer training in pump processes, believing that the knowledge of the method to safely maintain and operate pumps was one thing that ought to be shared with everyone. He spearheaded many inventions in the way pumps are serviced, using state-of-the-art technology to re-engineer pumps for optimum effectivity.
Harris is survived by his spouse of 56 years, Rita, who he met whereas on the University of Illinois. She later became vice president of Hydro, they usually worked side-by-side to make the corporate preeminent in the trade. Their leadership was characterised by a special commitment to their employees, who they handled like family. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s workers with monthly worker celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As ราคาเกจวัดแรงดัน stated: “Hydro turned the company it did because of the commitment of our individuals – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and gross sales staff – who all share a pivotal function in serving our clients.”
The tradition of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises impressed admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s employees, many of whom have worked at Hydro for greater than 20 years. Harris was also well-respected by his friends inside the pump trade. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the largest association of pump business producers in North America. In 2015, Europump awarded him its President’s Silver Award in recognition of his priceless 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 all the time expected more than individuals had been keen to offer. As an employee, I discovered rapidly that half-hearted measures had been unacceptable and an angle of ‘good enough” was by no means tolerated. To think that he took a rag-tag group of 5 street-wise salesmen and turned the corporate into a global group with 19 amenities worldwide is an amazing accomplishment. It took hard work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to develop the corporate as he did. He wanted to be one of the best, he wanted the corporate to be the best, and he wanted each of his employees to be their best.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny ability to “see over the horizon” and could glimpse the future wants of the industry long before others had digested final week’s adjustments.
There was also 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 those in the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita always treated their employees as “adopted sons and daughters” they usually personally bore the burden of knowing that their enterprise decisions not only have an result on the corporate but the well-being and safety of their workers and their families as properly.
George might be deeply missed, however his legacy will reside on. He hired what he thought-about the “best of breed” and people who shared his vision for the longer term, and the company is saturated with like-minded people who will proceed to grow the corporate nicely into the lengthy run.”
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