George F. Harris – An Appreciation

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 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 เกจวัดแรงดันสูง , he labored at several 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 offering engineering companies to the pump aftermarket industry. From the start, Harris believed in bettering the reliability and performance of pumps and encouraging innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro began with a single store in Chicago; under Harris’s management and vision Hydro became the most important impartial aftermarket pump company on the planet. 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 shopper. He helped develop programs for customer education in pump processes, believing that the knowledge of the means to safely preserve and operate pumps was one thing that ought to be shared with everybody. He spearheaded many inventions in the means in which pumps are serviced, utilizing state-of-the-art technology to re-engineer pumps for max effectivity.
Harris is survived by his spouse of 56 years, Rita, who he met while at the University of Illinois. She later grew to become vice chairman of Hydro, they usually labored side-by-side to make the corporate preeminent in the business. Their management was characterised by a special dedication to their workers, who they treated like family. They encouraged all service centres to honour Hydro’s employees with monthly worker celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as quickly as stated: “Hydro grew to become the corporate it did due to the commitment of our people – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and gross sales workers – who all share a pivotal position in serving our clients.”
The tradition of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises impressed admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s workers, lots of whom have worked at Hydro for more than 20 years. Harris was additionally well-respected by his peers inside the pump business. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the biggest affiliation of pump trade 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 private tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and quickly learned that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who all the time anticipated more than people had been willing to offer. As an employee, I realized rapidly that half-hearted measures have 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 hard work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to grow the company as he did. He wanted to be the most effective, he needed the corporate to be the best, and he wanted each of his staff to be their finest.
George was a gifted particular person who had the uncanny capacity to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the long run wants of the trade lengthy before others had digested last week’s adjustments.
There was additionally a side 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 these within the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita at all times handled their staff as “adopted sons and daughters” they usually personally bore the burden of knowing that their business choices not only affect the corporate but the well-being and security of their workers and their families as properly.
George might be deeply missed, however his legacy will live on. He hired what he thought of the “best of breed” and people who shared his imaginative and prescient for the long run, and the company is saturated with like-minded people who will continue to develop the company nicely into the lengthy run.”
Share