Beck was born in Bad Bergzabern, Rhineland-Palatinate, to the bricklayer Oskar Beck and his wife Johanna. Both his parents had their roots in the town Kapsweyer in southern Rhenish Palatinate. He grew up in

In March 2017, Beck was appointed the government's official commissioner for the victims of the attack at the Christmas market at Berlin's Breitscheidplatz on 19 December 2016.

Corporate boards
• Boehringer Ingelheim, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2013)
Non-profit organizations

Beck is Catholic. He lives with his wife, Roswitha, whom he married in 1968 in Steinfeld, Rhineland-Palatinate. They have one son (Stefan Beck).

After joining the SPD in 1972, mainly because of the Party's programme as well as the personality of Willy Brandt, Beck became chairman of the

Henrico Frank
Near the end of 2006, Beck recommended to Henrico Frank, an unemployed construction worker from Wiesbaden, to wash himself and shave so he could get a job. Following a media controversy about Beck's behaviour, Frank

1983: Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 2001: Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania