Dr Beck was still around Dalhousie when I completed my undergraduate studies in Political Science there in the early 1980s. He was a pleasant man with a formidable intellect. While I was never a student of his, we had various interesting conversations over those years, at assorted Departmental fuctions. He was one of that early generation of ground-breaking students of Canadian political science, and he will be missed. His contribution to our understanding of politics in Canada will endure.