Curtis Beckman

PHOENIX – Curtis Beckman, 76, died in Phoenix on July 4, 2018. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Henry “Hy” Beckman, a pharmacist, and Garnett Beckman, a school teacher, in 1946 the family moved to Phoenix, a boom town in need of a drugstore.

After obtaining a B.A. from the University of Arizona circa 1962, Curtis sojourned in Italy for two years and “quickly became Italian.” He returned to the United States to study Italian Renaissance literature at the University of Chicago, where he ultimately found himself halfheartedly writing a yet unfinished dissertation while wholeheartedly soaking in the lively jazz scene of Chicago and playing basketball with his friends. Eventually, he obtained a law degree from Chicago-Kent.

Back in Phoenix, Curtis, a champion of the underdog, proudly worked as a Public Defender for Maricopa County through his retirement in 2012. Without missing a beat, Curtis went on to volunteer as a reading coach at his old inner-city grade school and rallied several friends to join him. The children delighted in Mr. Beckman’s playful exuberance. In 2016, Curtis & Friends began volunteering as English teachers to elderly refugees at the Mosaic Center for the Area Agency on Aging. His elderly students found Curtis every bit as engaging as the children did.

In the early 90s, Isabel Fierros fell in love with Curtis and his ability to quote Dante in Italian, and relentlessly pursued him. With Isabel, Curtis started his family late in life and embraced fatherhood with gusto. He encouraged their children to follow their creative impulses and live their own lives with little regard for conventional expectations of respectability.

More a listener than a talker, Curtis kept lifelong friends whose company he cherished. He and Isabel enjoyed hosting them for dinners and jazz parties in their home. His lively social persona and irrepressible sense of humor made for some lore that has circulated around for decades. A frequent patron and occasional volunteer at The Nash jazz club in downtown Phoenix, Curtis spent many happy evenings there listening to his favorite music. Curtis also loved American, Cuban, and Japanese baseball. A man of few but meaningful possessions, Curtis was frugal in his personal life yet generous with others. In addition to underdogs, he was fond of dogs.

Curtis lives on through his wife Isabel and their children, Cayo Romero, and Max, Julia, and Paul Beckman; his dog Chip; and his beloved friends.

Donations in his name are suggested to the Phoenix Chapter of the ALS Association, Hospice of the Valley, or The Nash.

A memorial celebration will be held on August 26, 2018, at 3:00 p.m. at The Nash, 110 East Roosevelt, Phoenix.