April 19, 2006
Alec Beck, Austin Philanthropist and McCombs Alum, Dies

Alec Beck, BBA ’78, former president of Stripling-Blake Lumber Co. and donor to the McCombs School of Business undergraduate program, died at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio April 14. He was initially injured in a helicopter crash near Fredericksburg.

Beck was raised in Austin and was a football player at Westlake High School and at The University of Texas at Austin. While in college, he began work at the lumberyard at Stripling-Blake, which was owned by his wife’s family. He eventually worked his way up to company president, where he remained for three years after BMC West Corp. bought the company in 1995. He continued to serve on the board.

In the early 1980s, he served as president of the Young Men’s Business League of Austin, which operates the Austin Sunshine Camps for underprivileged children. Beck established a scholarship program at the camps to enable more children to attend.

Beck and his family also helped raise money for St. Andrew’s Episcopal School to build a new high school in Southwest Austin. The family also supported SafePlace and Hospice Austin.