George F. Harris – An Appreciation

Tributes paid to Hydro, Inc.’s president and founder.
George F. Harris, president and founding father of Hydro, Inc.
เกจวัดแรง , Inc. has announced the passing of its president and founder, George F. Harris, on December 20th, 2021.
Born in Chicago in 1941, Harris came 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 labored at a quantity of major pump corporations as an software engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of many 4 engineers who founded Hydro, Inc. with the mission of providing engineering companies to the pump aftermarket trade. From the beginning, Harris believed in enhancing the reliability and efficiency of pumps and inspiring innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro began with a single store in Chicago; underneath Harris’s leadership and vision Hydro grew to become the most important impartial aftermarket pump firm on the planet. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in 9 international locations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the culture of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and devoted to the shopper. He helped develop applications for buyer schooling in pump processes, believing that the information of tips on how to safely keep and function pumps was something that must be shared with everybody. He spearheaded many inventions in the greatest way pumps are serviced, using state-of-the-art know-how to re-engineer pumps for maximum effectivity.
Harris is survived by his spouse of 56 years, Rita, who he met while on the University of Illinois. She later became vp of Hydro, and so they worked side-by-side to make the company preeminent within the trade. Their leadership was characterised by a special commitment to their employees, who they handled like household. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s staff with monthly employee celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he once stated: “Hydro turned the corporate it did because of the dedication of our people – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales workers – who all share a pivotal position 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. Harris was also well-respected by his friends inside the pump industry. 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 useful contributions to the pump trade.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a private tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and rapidly discovered that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who all the time expected more than folks had been prepared to provide. As an employee, I learned rapidly that half-hearted measures have been unacceptable and an angle of ‘good enough” was by no means tolerated. To suppose that he took a rag-tag group of 5 street-wise salesmen and turned the company into a global group with 19 amenities worldwide is an incredible accomplishment. It took exhausting work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to develop the company as he did. He wanted to be one of the best, he wished the corporate to be one of the best, and he needed each of his workers to be their greatest.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny ability to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the longer term needs of the trade lengthy before others had digested last week’s adjustments.
There was additionally a aspect of George that most people never had the chance to see: As tenacious a businessman as he was, he was equally beneficiant and caring to those within the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita at all times handled their workers as “adopted sons and daughters” and so they personally bore the burden of figuring out that their business selections not only affect the corporate but the well-being and safety of their staff and their households as well.
George shall be deeply missed, however his legacy will reside on. He employed what he thought of the “best of breed” and those that shared his vision for the future, and the corporate is saturated with like-minded people who will continue to grow the corporate well into the longer term.”
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