Robert Beck, one of the chief crane operators on the Sears Tower construction project, hoisted a 2,500-pound girder more than a quarter of a mile into the Chicago sky in 1973 to top off the world’s tallest building at the time.
“It was a cold, windy day in May and he could feel the building sway,” said his stepdaughter, Marilyn Mathieu.
But the longtime Arlington Heights resident never crowed about that crowning achievement, even though his signature appears on the ceremonial beam with Mayor Richard J. Daley’s and those of other ironworkers critical to the 1,454-foot, 110-story project, family members said.
“He was a top-notch crane operator, “said Bill Dugen, president of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, the union Mr. Beck was a member of since 1945. “Bob was as good as they come.”
“He never once bragged,” said his son-in-law, Rod Bear. “When you think about it, if he had made even one little mistake there could have been a major catastrophe.”
So stellar was Mr. Beck’s reputation as a crane operator that after he retired, his union talked him into returning to his job several times to assist on complicated projects, family members said.
“His co-workers used to say, ‘When Bob’s at the helm, we’ve got nothing to worry about,'” Mathieu said. “He had their trust.”
Mr. Beck, 95, who also played a major role in the construction of the First National Bank and Mercantile Exchange buildings in downtown Chicago, died Sunday, Aug. 9, in Northwest Community Health Care in Arlington Heights of congestive heart failure.
In building the Sears Tower, now known as Willis Tower, Mr. Beck operated a 32-story crane — often without seeing it move. Family members said he received operating directives through a radio transmitter worn in his ear.
“What’s so amazing is that back in those days there was no high-tech, computerized equipment,” Bear said. “They’d tell him to move a beam an inch to the left or 2 feet to the right, and he’d follow their directions without actually seeing what he was doing.”
Born and raised in Penn Township, Pa., Mr. Beck worked construction since age 14. One of his first big jobs was the Montgomery Dam project near Pittsburgh.
During the 1940s, Mr. Beck worked various construction jobs in Ohio before moving to the Chicago area to operate a crane in the late 1950s. He retired in the mid-1980s but returned for several major projects, including the construction of the Arlington Park Race Track, family members said. “He once told me he never got up in the morning and didn’t want to go to work,” Bear said.
A resident of Arlington Heights for the last 35 years, Mr. Beck was a 32nd degree Mason and a member of Rochester Lodge No. 229, F & AM and the Medinah Shriners of Addison.
Other survivors include his wife of 35 years, Adele; a daughter, Marlene Bear; a stepdaughter, Adele Adams; a brother, Harry; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Mr. Beck was preceded in death by his first wife, Madalyn, who died in 1952.
A memorial will be held at 11 a.m. Friday in St. David’s Episcopal Church, 2410 Glenview Rd., Glenview.
