I have some very sad news to share. Jim Beck, long-time FIRST Regional Director in California, passed away Saturday, 7/22, after a battle with cancer. Jim passed at his home surrounded by his family.
Jim was a member of the FIRST family for over 14 years. He had a hearty, outsized personality and truly loved his teams. And his teams loved him back! Jim took special pleasure in seeing his teams make it to the highest levels of competition, which they often did. Along with continuously growing the number of teams in California over the years, Jim was instrumental in recruiting and training new Regional Directors to ensure that FIRST’s outstanding legacy in that state will continue.
Jim’s hard work helped thousands of young people be the best they could be, and through them, his legacy will live on. Jim was the best of FIRST, a true icon in the community, and will be missed.
If you have thoughts or condolences to pass along, you may send them to [email protected]
Frank
Jim Beck was a great person and I was personally honored to speak with him on several occasions and have him visit our team and high school. I still remember how upbeat he was at Chezy Champs last season, even while telling us about an orange-sized tumor he had removed from his brain. He surely will be missed :(.
I first met Jim when I was in the 4th grade. He was a judge at my FLL competition.
Jim has been a part of my FIRST journey ever since. He has done so much for FIRST, FIRST in California, and for me. Thank you, Jim, you will be missed.
Jim has done some outstanding work as a California regional director, he’s been such an incredible help to so many teams from all over the region he served. He had been a monumental help to our team when we first began running our offseason competition, Capital City Classic. Jim will truly be missed. Such an inspiration to us all
The Tators will always have fond memories of Jim. It didn’t matter if we were at one of his events or lucky enough to be at the championship - he would look us up and have an encouraging word - especially when we weren’t so certain that it was going well.
He would typically say something like - I really appreciate seeing you guys, and I am going to call Richard Anderson (RD of Utah, Idaho, Montana) and let him know how well you guys did - win lose or tie he was building teams - even those from far outside his region.
Jim’s family is reading the posts on this thread, and they also are looking at the emails sent to [email protected]. Please take the time to tell them about a memory / interaction with Jim and the influence he had with you on a personal basis. If you want to send a card, etc, then please do so.
Jim has been a part of our lives ever since Dona and I got started in FIRST. He was always larger than life and you knew when Jim was around, things were going to run well.
I was hired as a FIRST Senior Mentor by Jim way back in August 2010 and will always be thankful for his mentoring. I learned so much from Jim.
FIRST would not be what it is today here on the West coast without all the hard work and dedication of Jim. Jim will always be a part of FIRST in California.
There will be a Celebration of Life for Jim- Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017 in Campbell, Calif (Silicon Valley). Per his obituary RSVPs are requested by his son, I’m sure to be able to accommodate all the mourners.
One of my most meaningful memories of Jim was of the 2014 FRC season. I was awarded the regional Woodie Flowers award at the Utah Regional, but I was at the Sacramento Regional at the time, one of the consequences of having three teams. Jim asked me to bring him the trophy at SVR, where he repeated the presentation so I could have the experience. Thanks, Jim!
