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 introduced the passing of its president and founder, George F. Harris, on December twentieth, 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 degree in Engineering. After commencement, he worked at several main pump firms as an utility engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of many 4 engineers who based Hydro, Inc. with the mission of offering engineering providers to the pump aftermarket trade. From the start, Harris believed in bettering the reliability and efficiency of pumps and encouraging innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
เกจวัดแรงดันแก๊สlpg began with a single shop in Chicago; under Harris’s leadership and vision Hydro became the biggest independent aftermarket pump company in the world. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in nine countries.
Harris was instrumental in defining the culture of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and dedicated to the shopper. He helped develop programs for customer training in pump processes, believing that the data of tips on how 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 expertise to re-engineer pumps for max effectivity.
Harris is survived by his wife of fifty six years, Rita, who he met whereas at the University of Illinois. She later grew to become vice chairman of Hydro, and they worked side-by-side to make the corporate preeminent in the trade. Their management was characterised by a special dedication to their workers, who they treated like household. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s staff with monthly employee celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as quickly as mentioned: “Hydro became the corporate it did because of the dedication of our folks – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales staff – who all share a pivotal function in serving our customers.”
The culture of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises inspired admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s staff, many of whom have labored at Hydro for greater than 20 years. Harris was additionally well-respected by his peers within the pump trade. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the biggest affiliation 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 industry.
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 more than people have been keen to provide. As an employee, I realized shortly that half-hearted measures had been unacceptable and an attitude of ‘good enough” was by no means tolerated. To think that he took a rag-tag group of 5 street-wise salesmen and turned the company into a world group with 19 services 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 needed to be the best, he needed the corporate to be the best, and he wanted every of his staff 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 wants of the trade lengthy earlier than others had digested final week’s changes.
There was also a facet of George that most individuals by no means 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 always handled their workers as “adopted sons and daughters” and so they personally bore the burden of figuring out that their enterprise choices not solely affect the company but the well-being and security of their employees 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 corporate is saturated with like-minded individuals who will proceed to develop the corporate properly into the future.”
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