Rex E. Beach (1877-1949) was born in Atwood, Michigan on September 1, 1877. He was elected to The Lambs in 1907 a Professional member.
His family moved to the Tampa area in Florida in 1886, where Beach attended public school. In 1892, he enrolled in the preparatory school at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. In 1894, Beach enrolled as a freshman at Rollins and became involved in various organizations and athletics on campus throughout his college career. He served in various capacities at The Sandspur, the Rollins student newspaper, beginning as the Locals Editor, moving to Assistant Editor, and finally serving as the Financial Manager of the newspaper. Beach also served as the Director, and later Secretary and Treasurer, of the Athletic Association. He was also the Treasurer of the Demosthenic Society, and the President of the Tennis Club. In 1896, Beach published two short stories in The Sandspur; A Strange Experience on March 25, and The Convict’s Story on May 29. He never officially graduated from Rollins, though he later received an honorary Bachelor of Science degree at the inauguration of Rollins President Hamilton Holt in 1927.
In 1897, Beach moved to Chicago to study law. However, Beach interrupted his studies that summer in order to prospect for gold in Alaska during what became known as the Klondike Rush.
Beach spent the next six years dividing his time between prospecting in Alaska and studying law and brick manufacturing in Chicago. He continued his involvement in athletics through his membership in the Chicago Athletic Association. After hearing of a gold strike in Nome, he returned to Alaska in 1901 to continue prospecting, and struck gold near Nome. Upon returning to Chicago, he turned his attention seriously to writing. He sold his first story, The Mule Boy and the Garrulous Mute, to McClure’s Magazine in 1903.
His first best-seller, The Spoilers, was first serialized, and then published as a novel by Harper & Bros. in 1906. The novel was dramatized that same year by Beach, in collaboration with James McArthur. Beach continued to publish at a high rate throughout the rest of his life, often traveling to gather ideas for his works. After success in literature, many of his works were adapted into successful films; The Spoilers became a stage play, then was remade into movies five times from 1914 to 1955, with Gary Cooper and John Wayne each playing “Roy Glennister” in 1930 and 1942, respectively.
In 1907, Beach married Edith Greta Crater of Denver, Colorado, whom he had met in Nome. Greta, as she preferred to be called, was the sister of Allene Crater, who later married the renowned actor and Lamb, Fred Stone. Stone occasionally appears in Beach’s auto-biographical writings.
Beach also maintained an avid interest in experimental farming, and owned land near Sebring, Florida, devoted to celery and flower bulb husbandry. In 1937, he encouraged Rollins College to participate in nutritional studies on produce grown by Dr. Charles Northen of Orlando’s Colloidal Institute. He also invested in Easter lily bulb growing in Mexico, though he later transferred operations to Florida.
Near the end of his life, Beach and his wife settled permanently in Sebring. His health began to fail in 1944. His wife Greta died on April 15, 1947, the same year Beach developed throat cancer. After a long period of illness, Beach died in his Sebring home on December 7, 1949 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The ashes of Rex and Greta Beach were buried next to the Alumni House at Rollins College in 1951.