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 20th, 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 companies as an application engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of the 4 engineers who based Hydro, Inc. with the mission of offering engineering providers to the pump aftermarket industry. From the beginning, Harris believed in bettering the reliability and efficiency of pumps and encouraging innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
เกจวัดแรงดันปั๊มลม began with a single shop in Chicago; beneath Harris’s leadership and imaginative and prescient Hydro grew to become the biggest impartial aftermarket pump company on the planet. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in nine nations.
Harris was instrumental in defining the tradition of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and devoted to the customer. He helped develop packages for customer schooling in pump processes, believing that the data of tips on how to safely keep and function pumps was something that should be shared with everybody. He spearheaded many inventions in the way in which pumps are serviced, using state-of-the-art technology to re-engineer pumps for max effectivity.
Harris is survived by his wife of fifty six years, Rita, who he met while on the University of Illinois. She later turned vice president of Hydro, they usually worked side-by-side to make the company preeminent in the industry. Their leadership was characterised by a particular dedication to their workers, who they handled like household. They inspired all service centres to honour Hydro’s workers with month-to-month worker celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he once said: “Hydro turned the corporate it did because of the dedication of our individuals – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales workers – who all share a pivotal function in serving our prospects.”
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 friends inside the pump business. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the most important association of pump industry manufacturers in North America. In 2015, Europump awarded him its President’s Silver Award in recognition of his valuable contributions to the pump business.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a private tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and rapidly realized that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who always expected greater than individuals had been keen to supply. As an worker, I realized shortly 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 worldwide group with 19 facilities worldwide is an incredible accomplishment. It took onerous work, lengthy hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to develop the company as he did. He wanted to be the best, he wished the corporate to be the most effective, and he needed each of his workers to be their greatest.
George was a gifted particular person who had the uncanny capacity to “see over the horizon” and could glimpse the future wants of the trade lengthy earlier than others had digested final week’s modifications.
There was additionally a facet of George that most people never had the opportunity to see: As tenacious a businessman as he was, he was equally beneficiant and caring to these in the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita always treated their employees as “adopted sons and daughters” and so they personally bore the burden of knowing that their business selections not only affect the company but the well-being and safety of their staff and their households as properly.
George will be deeply missed, however his legacy will stay on. He hired what he thought-about the “best of breed” and people who shared his imaginative and prescient for the longer term, and the company is saturated with like-minded individuals who will proceed to grow the corporate nicely into the long run.”
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