Ambassador Beck graduated from Harvard College in 1968 and Yale Law School in 1971. He became a trial lawyer, admitted to practice in Washington and New York. In early 1977, he was retained by the Palau Political Status Commission as Chief Counsel to assist the Commission in its drive to achieve sovereignty for Palau, separate and apart from the other districts of what was then known as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In that capacity, he worked from 1976 until 1980, negotiating and concluding with the United States the groundbreaking Hilo Agreement, and then the Compact of Free Association. These established, for the first time, Palau’s right to conduct its own internal and foreign affairs, and to take its place in the community of nations. He also participated as Counsel to the Status Commission on the several historic occasions at which it petitioned the United Nations for separate sovereignty.
- In 1978, at the request of the Status Commission, Ambassador Beck arranged to have the eminent Harvard Professor and former Ambassador of President Kennedy to India, John Kenneth Galbraith, become the unpaid Economic Adviser to the Status Commission.
- In recognition of his service to Palau, Ambassador Beck was made an honorary citizen of the Republic in 1979, by Joint Resolution of the Sixth Palau Legislature No. 1041.
- In 1986, Ambassador Beck co-founded Granite Broadcasting Corporation, a public company that owned and operated television stations around the US. He was President of that company until 2004.
- In early 2004, Ambassador Beck was asked by President Remengesau to become Palau’s first Ambassador to the United Nations, and has served continuously in this position to date.