We sadly report the passing of Skip Beck, a dedicated physician and family man from the Chicago suburbs, on July 6, 2023, from stomach cancer. Skip came to Princeton with eight others from New Trier High School, having spent his adolescence in Wilmette, Ill. He belonged to Charter, majored in sociology, was a diver freshman year, and roomed with Kuenzel, Eichner, Gill, Zarfoss, Floden, Sovatsky, and Wood in Henry junior and senior years. Roommates remember him for his quiet but highly engaging manner, warmth, humor, modesty, dedication, and unfailing loyalty. Skip graduated from Northwestern Medical School in 1976.
Strongly motivated to improve the lives of others, he found his professional niche in women’s health, following an ob/gyn residency with a fellowship in the new field of gynecologic oncology. Skip then provided life-saving and affirming care for nearly 40 years to this vulnerable group of cancer patients, first at Evanston-Northwestern Health and later at Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
Though he wouldn’t tell you so, he was repeatedly named a top Chicago area doctor. What he did acknowledge was that he found peak experiences every week, often even daily, in the help he was able to give to his patients. Skip’s other priority was his family, his wife, Julie (neé Papini) of 39 years, and his two children, Katie (born in 1985) and J.B. (1988) and two grandchildren. He especially enjoyed reading, hiking with his dogs, vacationing in Tahoe, and keeping up with high school and Princeton mates Kuenzel and Eichner, and other 71ers. The class extends its condolences to his family, friends, and many appreciative patients.