In Memoriam: Life Trustee Charles W. Beach ’58, G’67

Shortly after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of Arts and Sciences, Charles W. Beach launched a firm representing manufacturers and helped a start-up company become a world class leader in opto-electronic components. Eventually, C.W. Beach Co. Inc. grew into a leader among manufacturers’ representatives, offering high technology component solutions and quality service throughout the Northeast. Long after Beach himself retired, the company remains family-owned and operated, in Jamesville, New York, with his son David at the helm.

Beach, who died on Feb. 22, 2025, at the age of 88, served his alma mater on the Board of Trustees as a voting trustee from 1991 to 2007 and remained active as a life trustee on the board’s Academic Affairs Committee. He also supported the University and its students philanthropically, including initiatives in the athletics department, and an endowed scholarship in the name of his parents, Arthur and Norma, both of whom were Syracuse University graduates. Like their son, Arthur Beach 1917 and Norma Vergason Beach 1925 earned degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences.

While building his business in the 1960s, Beach returned to Syracuse University to pursue a master’s degree in education in the School of Education. He continued to live in Syracuse and commute to Rochester to support Kodak and Xerox with various electronic components.

“Through his service and philanthropy, Charlie demonstrated his enduring support of higher education and Syracuse University,” says Chancellor Kent Syverud. “He built a company grounded in innovation and service, demonstrating the value of relationships, integrity, and ingenuity.”

Beach remained devoted to the greater Syracuse region in his civic work and volunteerism. He was a founding member of InterFaith Works of Syracuse, where he served as board president, and was also past president of the United Methodist Foundation Inc. and the Vera House Foundation, and past president of the boards of Elmcrest Children’s Center and Syracuse Rotary.

The city he loved honored him in return. The Post-Standard honored him with a Person of Achievement award in 2003 for his “volunteer leadership and monetary contributions to a long list of Central New York’s social service, educational and cultural institutions over the decades.” Temple Adath Yeshurun honored Beach with a Citizen of the Year award in 2010. In 1991, he was named philanthropist of the year by the Central New York chapter of the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives.

Beach’s commitment to service and inclination toward leadership began early in life. He was elected class president at Nottingham High School after serving in that position at his elementary school, the Charles Andrews School. He pursued his passion for baseball in high school but, according to his family, his dream of playing professionally was dashed when he contracted polio in his pitching arm and shoulder.

Beach is survived by three children, Karen, Marilyn and David, along with seven grandchildren and a great-grandchild.