George F. Harris – An Appreciation

Tributes paid to Hydro, Inc.’s president and founder.
George F. Harris, president and founder of Hydro, Inc.
Hydro, Inc. has announced 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 degree in Engineering. After commencement, he worked at several major pump firms as an application engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of many 4 engineers who founded Hydro, Inc. with the mission of providing engineering services to the pump aftermarket industry. From the beginning, Harris believed in bettering the reliability and performance of pumps and inspiring innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro began with a single store in Chicago; beneath Harris’s leadership and vision Hydro grew to become the biggest 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 devoted to the customer. He helped develop applications for buyer education in pump processes, believing that the knowledge of the method to safely preserve and operate pumps was one thing that ought to be shared with everyone. He spearheaded many inventions in the greatest way pumps are serviced, utilizing state-of-the-art technology to re-engineer pumps for max effectivity.
pressure gauge 2.5 นิ้ว is survived by his wife of 56 years, Rita, who he met while on the University of Illinois. She later grew to become vice chairman of Hydro, and they labored side-by-side to make the corporate preeminent in the industry. Their leadership was characterised by a particular dedication to their staff, who they treated like family. They encouraged all service centres to honour Hydro’s staff with month-to-month worker celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as soon as stated: “Hydro became the corporate it did because of the dedication of our individuals – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and gross sales workers – who all share a pivotal function 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 labored at Hydro for greater than 20 years. Harris was additionally well-respected by his friends within the pump business. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the most important association of pump industry producers in North America. In 2015, Europump awarded him its President’s Silver Award in recognition of his priceless contributions to the pump business.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a personal tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and quickly discovered that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who always expected greater than individuals have been keen to offer. As an worker, I realized shortly that half-hearted measures had been unacceptable and an angle of ‘good enough” was by no means tolerated. To assume that he took a rag-tag group of 5 street-wise salesmen and turned the company into a world organization with 19 facilities worldwide is an incredible accomplishment. It took exhausting work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to develop the corporate as he did. He wanted to be the most effective, he wished the company to be the best, and he wanted every of his workers to be their finest.
George was a gifted particular person who had the uncanny capacity to “see over the horizon” and could glimpse the future wants of the industry long before others had digested final week’s modifications.
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 these within the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita always treated their employees as “adopted sons and daughters” and so they personally bore the burden of figuring out that their enterprise decisions not only affect the corporate but the well-being and safety of their staff and their families as well.
George will be deeply missed, but his legacy will live on. He hired what he considered 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 grow the corporate nicely into the future.”
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