Tributes paid to Hydro, Inc.’s president and founder.
George F. Harris, president and founding father of Hydro, Inc.
Hydro, Inc. has introduced 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. He attended the University of Illinois at Champaign and graduated with a Bachelor of Science diploma in Engineering. After commencement, he labored at a number of main pump corporations as an utility engineer and regional manager.
In 1969, Harris was one of the 4 engineers who founded Hydro, Inc. with the mission of providing engineering providers to the pump aftermarket trade. From the beginning, Harris believed in enhancing 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 leadership and imaginative and prescient Hydro became the most important unbiased aftermarket pump firm on the earth. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in 9 nations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the tradition of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and dedicated to the shopper. He helped develop programs for customer schooling in pump processes, believing that the data of the way to safely preserve and function pumps was something that should be shared with everyone. He spearheaded many inventions in the finest way pumps are serviced, utilizing state-of-the-art know-how to re-engineer pumps for max efficiency.
Harris is survived by his spouse of fifty six years, Rita, who he met whereas on the University of Illinois. She later grew to become vice president of Hydro, and they labored side-by-side to make the corporate preeminent within the trade. Their leadership was characterised by a particular commitment to their staff, who they handled like family. They encouraged all service centres to honour Hydro’s workers with month-to-month employee celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as quickly as mentioned: “Hydro grew to become the company it did due to the commitment of our individuals – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales employees – who all share a pivotal function in serving our clients.”
The culture of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises inspired admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s employees, lots of whom have worked at Hydro for greater than 20 years. Hidden was also well-respected by his friends throughout the pump trade. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the biggest affiliation of pump business manufacturers 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 quickly realized that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who all the time anticipated greater than people have been willing to offer. As an worker, I realized shortly that half-hearted measures were unacceptable and an perspective of ‘good enough” was never tolerated. To think that he took a rag-tag group of 5 street-wise salesmen and turned the corporate into a world group with 19 services worldwide is a tremendous accomplishment. It took onerous work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to develop the company as he did. He wished to be one of the best, he needed the company to be the most effective, and he needed every of his employees to be their greatest.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny capability to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the future wants of the industry lengthy before others had digested final week’s modifications.
There was additionally a side of George that most people never had the opportunity to see: As tenacious a businessman as he was, he was equally generous and caring to those in the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita at all times treated their staff as “adopted sons and daughters” they usually personally bore the burden of figuring out that their business decisions not solely have an result on the corporate however the well-being and security of their staff and their families as nicely.
George shall be deeply missed, however his legacy will reside on. He employed what he thought-about the “best of breed” and those that shared his vision for the future, and the company is saturated with like-minded people who will proceed to develop the company properly into the future.”
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