[2] Beck was born in 1891 in Sanok, southern Poland (a region which was known as Galicia).

He married Helena Blitz, with whom he had three children (Isaac, Edith, and Leopold).

In 1907 he joined his future father in law, Louis (Levie) Blitz, to become the third generation of family members in the diamond trade.

Beck and his family fled Belgium during World War II, crossing France and finding shelter during the final years of the war as refugees in Geneva, Switzerland.

The diamond industry in Antwerp had to recover from the many human losses that were suffered during the Second World War.