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 commencement, he worked at several main pump companies as an software engineer and regional manager.
In 1969, Harris was one of many four engineers who based Hydro, Inc. with the mission of offering engineering providers to the pump aftermarket business. From เกจวัดถังแก๊ส , Harris believed in enhancing 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; under Harris’s management and imaginative and prescient Hydro turned the largest impartial aftermarket pump firm in the world. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in nine nations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the culture of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and devoted to the client. He helped develop packages for customer training in pump processes, believing that the information of the way to safely preserve and operate pumps was one thing that must be shared with everybody. He spearheaded many innovations in the 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 whereas at the University of Illinois. She later became vice chairman of Hydro, and so they worked side-by-side to make the company preeminent within the trade. Their leadership was characterised by a particular dedication to their workers, who they treated like household. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s employees with monthly employee celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as quickly as stated: “Hydro turned the company it did due to the dedication of our individuals – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales employees – who all share a pivotal position in serving our customers.”
The tradition of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises inspired 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 peers throughout the pump industry. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the most important affiliation of pump industry producers 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 private tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and quickly realized that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who all the time expected more than individuals have been keen to offer. As an employee, I learned shortly 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 world group with 19 facilities worldwide is an amazing accomplishment. It took onerous work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to grow the company as he did. He wanted to be one of the best, he wished the company to be one of the best, and he wanted every of his workers to be their best.
George was a gifted particular person who had the uncanny capacity to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the future needs of the trade long earlier than others had digested last week’s modifications.
There was additionally a side of George that most individuals never had the chance to see: As tenacious a businessman as he was, he was equally generous and caring to these within the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita all the time handled their staff as “adopted sons and daughters” they usually personally bore the burden of knowing that their business choices not solely have an effect on the company but the well-being and safety of their workers and their households as nicely.
George might be deeply missed, but his legacy will live on. He employed what he thought-about the “best of breed” and people who shared his imaginative and prescient for the future, and the corporate is saturated with like-minded individuals who will continue to grow the company well into the longer term.”
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