George F. Harris – An Appreciation

ไดอะแฟรม 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.
digital pressure gauge 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 several major pump companies as an utility engineer and regional manager.
In 1969, Harris was one of many four engineers who founded 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 inspiring innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro started with a single shop in Chicago; beneath Harris’s management and imaginative and prescient Hydro became the largest impartial aftermarket pump firm on the planet. Today, Hydro stands proud with 15 service centres in 9 countries.
Harris was instrumental in defining the tradition of Hydro: unbiased, engineering- and innovation-focused, and dedicated to the client. He helped develop applications for buyer training in pump processes, believing that the knowledge of the method to safely preserve and function pumps was one thing that ought to be shared with everybody. He spearheaded many innovations in the method in which pumps are serviced, utilizing state-of-the-art know-how to re-engineer pumps for max effectivity.
Harris is survived by his spouse of fifty six years, Rita, who he met whereas at the University of Illinois. She later grew to become vice president of Hydro, and so they worked side-by-side to make the corporate preeminent within the business. Their management was characterised by a particular dedication to their employees, who they handled like household. They encouraged all service centres to honour Hydro’s workers with monthly worker celebrations and an annual Employee Appreciation Week. As he as soon as mentioned: “Hydro grew to become the company it did due to the commitment of our folks – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales workers – who all share a pivotal role in serving our prospects.”

The culture of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises inspired admiration and esteem in all of Hydro’s employees, many of whom have worked at Hydro for more than 20 years. Harris was also well-respected by his peers throughout the pump business. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the most important association of pump business manufacturers 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 personal tribute:
“I began with HydroAire in 1976 and rapidly learned that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who all the time anticipated more than folks had been keen to supply. As an employee, I realized quickly that half-hearted measures were unacceptable and an perspective 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 corporate into a worldwide organization with 19 services worldwide is a tremendous accomplishment. It took exhausting work, long hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to develop the corporate as he did. He needed to be one of the best, he wished the company to be the most effective, and he wished every of his employees to be their greatest.
George was a gifted particular person who had the uncanny ability to “see over the horizon” and will glimpse the longer term needs of the trade long before others had digested final week’s modifications.
There was additionally a side of George that most individuals by no means had the chance to see: As tenacious a businessman as he was, he was equally generous and caring to those in the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita at all times handled their employees as “adopted sons and daughters” and they personally bore the burden of understanding that their business choices not only have an effect on the corporate but the well-being and security of their staff and their families as well.
George shall be deeply missed, but his legacy will stay on. He hired what he considered the “best of breed” and those that shared his imaginative and prescient for the future, and the corporate is saturated with like-minded individuals who will proceed to grow the corporate nicely into the longer term.”

Share

Scroll to Top