Tributes paid to Hydro, Inc.’s president and founder.
George F. Harris, president and founding father 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 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 a number of major pump companies as an utility engineer and regional supervisor.
In 1969, Harris was one of the 4 engineers who founded Hydro, Inc. with the mission of providing engineering providers to the pump aftermarket industry. From the start, Harris believed in bettering the reliability and efficiency of pumps and encouraging innovation. He was later appointed as president of Hydro.
Hydro started with a single store in Chicago; beneath Harris’s management and vision Hydro became the largest independent aftermarket pump company on the earth. 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 dedicated to the customer. He helped develop packages for customer training in pump processes, believing that the information of the means to safely preserve and operate pumps was one thing that must be shared with everybody. He spearheaded many innovations in the way pumps are serviced, utilizing state-of-the-art know-how to re-engineer pumps for maximum effectivity.
Harris is survived by his wife of 56 years, Rita, who he met while at the University of Illinois. She later turned vice president of Hydro, they usually labored side-by-side to make the corporate preeminent within the business. เกจวัดแรงดันน้ำมันเบนซิน was characterised by a particular dedication to their staff, who they handled like household. 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 grew to become the corporate it did because of the dedication of our people – machinists, mechanics, engineers, administrative and sales employees – who all share a pivotal position in serving our prospects.”
The culture of care and loyalty nurtured by the Harrises impressed 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 throughout the pump trade. In 2014, he was elected as president of the Hydraulic Institute, the largest association of pump business manufacturers in North America. In 2015, Europump awarded him its President’s Silver Award in recognition of his valuable contributions to the pump trade.
Bob Jennings, Corporate Trainer, pays a private tribute:
“I started with HydroAire in 1976 and quickly realized that George Harris was the consummate protagonist who at all times expected more than people were keen to supply. As an employee, I realized quickly that half-hearted measures had been unacceptable and an angle of ‘good enough” was never tolerated. To think that he took a rag-tag group of 5 street-wise salesmen and turned the corporate into a world group with 19 services worldwide is a tremendous accomplishment. It took exhausting work, lengthy hours, a “never say never” mindset, and teamwork to grow the corporate as he did. He needed to be the most effective, he wanted the corporate to be one of the best, and he wished every of his employees to be their finest.
George was a gifted individual who had the uncanny capability to “see over the horizon” and could glimpse the lengthy run wants of the trade long before others had digested last week’s changes.
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 those in the “Hydro Family.” George and Rita at all times handled their workers as “adopted sons and daughters” they usually personally bore the burden of figuring out that their business choices not solely have an result on the company but the well-being and safety of their workers and their households as well.
George will be deeply missed, but his legacy will reside on. He employed what he thought of the “best of breed” and those that shared his imaginative and prescient for the longer term, and the company is saturated with like-minded individuals who will proceed to grow the company nicely into the future.”
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