Beer Community Gathers to Mourn, Celebrate Jeff Becker
Many striking images from the funeral and wake of Beer Institute prexy Jeff Becker in Alexandria, VA earlier this week: overflow crowd of over 1000 at mass; long line of folks waiting outside the funeral parlor waiting an hour or so to pay respects; massive Clydesdale standing watch at both the funeral home and the club where a luncheon was held. The leadership of each of the top 4 brewer/suppliers were all there, as well as top Republican legislators too and literally hundreds of friends. But most impressive of all: the parade of friends, associates and family members toasting Jeff's memory, including a moving round from Jeff's beer associates at NBWA's offices Tuesday night and at the inevitable drinking session at an Old Towne bar after NBWA's reception. A constant theme: "everybody loved Jeff" and his "extraordinary positive" spirit. Indeed, they did. Jeff had a truly rare number of close friends. The industry (and so many others) came together to mourn his death, but also to celebrate his too-short life.
Jeff's industry colleagues also came through with a series of warm and classy gestures. NBWA opened its offices for the farewell reception/celebration. AB provided the Clydesdale. The full contingent of hi-up execs from AB and MillerCoors, plus the leadership of Crown and Heineken USA stayed for the duration. At the tail end of the reception at NBWA, those that remained gathered around and traded moving, often humorous reminiscences about Jeff. AB prexy Dave Peacock recited a poem at NBWA, (also called Jeff a "mentor" at luncheon). Miller veep Tim Scully quoted Shakespeare at the luncheon. Brooklyn Beer's Steve Hindy thanked Jeff for getting big and small brewers more aligned. Even DISCUS chipped in at the NBWA reception, providing the booze. And where else could you see MADD prexy Chuck Hurley and ABI's Rick Berman sharing a drink and chatting together? Jeff would have gotten a big kick out of all this.
Indeed NBWA prexy Craig Purser broke up the luncheon crowd with a spot on-imitation of Jeff in an imagined phone call between the two. Jeff to Craig: "Can you believe all these people? Can you believe they sent me a freakin' Clydesdale! Hey pal, they ain't sending you a Clydesdale. Keep this . . . up, and they'll send you a horse's head!" Craig referred to recent tension between wholesalers and brewers, but went on to say that even with those tensions and Jeff so sick, he and Jeff had gotten closer in recent mos. We can't imagine too many circumstances that would bring everyone together, including top execs of top 4 members of BI, at NBWA offices. But in a fitting tribute to Jeff, those tensions fell away this week for an example of the kind of camaraderie legendary in the beer business where differences are dropped, glasses are raised and good cheer prevails, even amidst a sad event.
In addition to top supplier execs, BI staff past and present and other beer folk, mourners included a who's who of DC figures an indication of the respect and love for the man: House Repub leader John Boehner, the acting head of NIAAA, House Repub whip Eric Cantor. Also there, past industry assn leaders like NBWA's Ron Sarasin, BI's Ray McGrath, Don Shea and also ex-Miller ceo John Bowlin. Jeff's circle extended far beyond beer, of course. His wife Brenda is also a respected figure in DC. And his teenage kids, Max and Megan, are seemingly popular (and well-spoken) like their dad; many of their friends participated. Quite a sendoff, pal.