Anthony Michael “Mike” Beck
June 3rd, 1957 - January 22nd, 2022
Anthony Michael “Mike” Beck, was born in Phoenix, AZ, June 3rd, 1957. He died January 22nd, 2022 in Cocoa Beach, FL.
He was raised in Overland Park, KS, where he excelled at sports and developed a love of space. Mike went to KU and his senior year was lured away by Hughes Aircraft Company to work on an Apollo mission, his first of many in his career. The next thing we knew, there was Mike in ‘Newsweek’ working on that mission. Not only was he a rocket scientist, he was a pilot. He loved “Bessie”, a vintage six-seat Cessna that he completely restored and rebuilt. She took him coast-to-coast!
Another thing Mike loved was music. He built his own amplifiers and had a natural ability to play any well-known guitar part on any of his several acoustic or electric guitars. Mike was planning to go on a short tour playing with Sheryl Crow when he was assigned to a mission in Houston. “Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” and Mike went to work on it, living on his 44-foot sailboat.
In between all of that, Mike was employed by Raytheon, where he had a top secret clearance, working in the Space & Airborne Systems Group (SAS) on classified surveillance radar projects. Later in his career, he contracted with the major players in the aerospace industry, finally landing at Cape Canaveral with Northrop Grumman.
Mike’s first loves were his three daughters, his grandson and his wife, Terri. He was (truly) a bright light to many friends and colleagues.