Joseph Beech

Joseph Beech, or Joe Beech as he was more commonly known (October 3, 1867 – February 25, 1954), was an American Methodist missionary and educator, member of Psi Upsilon and Phi Beta Kappa, and founding president of the West China Union University. He was a recipient of the Order of Brilliant Jade.

Life and career Beech was born October 3, 1867, in Newbold, Derbyshire, England. He attended Centenary Collegiate Institute in Hackettstown, New Jersey before entering Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut,

From left to right, E. D. Burton, T. C. Chamberlin, Joseph Beech, Y. T. Wang (interpreter), and R. T. Chamberlin (T. C. Chamberlin's son) at Santai County, Sichuan, during an exploratory trip through China in 1909 as part of the Oriental Educational Investigation Commission. Creating a university requires lengthy preparation, which started in 1905 with a Temporary Board of Management of the West China Union University founded to handle this task. Beech was appointed a member of this Board together with Dr. Canright, C. R. Carscallen, E. J. Carson, H. T. Hodgkin, H. D. Robertson, H. T. Silcock, J. Taylor, E. Williams, and J. W. Yost. The Board prepared a report for presentation to the University of Chicago commissioners, Ernest DeWitt Burton and Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, on the occasion of their visit to West China in May 1909, as part of the Oriental Investigation Commission project supported by John D. Rockefeller to reconnoiter the Eastern world as a potential site for the humanitarian projects of the nascent Rockefeller Foundation.

In the process of preparation, Beech reached out to Wesleyan students, faculty, and alumni. Through his fundraising efforts, the Wesleyan community's financial support of West China Union University helped it to thrive. In addition to serving as founding president, Beech designed many of the university's buildings and was himself a member of its teaching faculty. In "History of the Union University: A Sketch", H. D. Robertson, a Canadian Methodist missionary, described Beech as someone "smiling his way through all sorts of difficulties and bringing to definite conclusions all manner of suggestions and ideas. In Western countries we see him going from place to place telling the tale of this university and its opportunities, and interesting men so that they give with confidence the money needed for the University."

Personal life Beech married Mary Josephine Harvey in 1888, who died just two years later (1890). They had one son named Elliot. In 1904, he married Nellie Miriam Decker in Chongqing. They had six children, three boys and three girls.