Article

Tom Beck

Published Online December 18, 2007

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Tom Beck, conservationist, oil-field environmental and social-management consultant (b at Wishaws, Scot 11 Mar 1932). Beck pioneered environmental protection and management in the Canadian PETROLEUM INDUSTRY.

Beck, Tom

Tom Beck, conservationist, oil-field environmental and social-management consultant (b at Wishaws, Scot 11 Mar 1932). Beck pioneered environmental protection and management in the Canadian PETROLEUM INDUSTRY. Twenty years in the Alberta oil business led to his appointment in 1970 as environmental co-ordinator for Elf Oil Exploration and Production Ltd and later Aquitaine Co Ltd. From 1980 to 1982 he was director of Environmental and Social Affairs for Petro-Canada.

Dedicated to maintenance of natural environments and to sensitive development of natural resources, Beck has had wide influence. He was a founder of the Alberta Wilderness Association, governor of the Arctic Institute, and chairman of the Canadian Environmental Advisory Council in 1978-87.