Beck, Broussais C.

Seattle businessman, rowing enthusiast, and manager of the Bon Marche department store.

Born 1886 in Walla Walla, Wash., Beck attended the University of Washington and was on the UW varsity crew from 1907-1910, where he won outstanding honors as an oarsman. Beck received his degree in electrical engineering at Yale in 1911 but returned to Seattle and became an executive at the Bon Marche department store. He remained a staunch supporter of rowing and became chairman of the Board of Rowing Stewards at the UW shortly after its inception. His support for and interest in UW rowing culminated in his 1923 book, Rowing at Washington. As store manager of the Bon Marche during the Seattle general strike of 1919, Beck had spies planted into the ranks of the labor movement. The Bon Marche played a central role in galvanizing an uncompromising employer reaction to the labor crisis. In response to the strike, employers formed an alliance called the Associated Industries. After the strike failed, labor leaders called for a boycott of the Bon Marche as part of the strategy against the Associated Industries. In 1929, he established the Luminous Tube Corporation and served as its first president. He died in 1936 at the age of 49 after a prolonged illness.