Keith Beavan, of Southold, head of public information at UN, dies at 93

With his intellect and charm, former BBC correspondent Keith Beavan turned a United Nations gig into a Cold War career as head of the public information office and a political adviser in conflict zones.

After working as BBC Radio’s West Indies reporter and then in Manhattan for Reuters news service, Beavan joined the U.N. in 1959 as a junior press officer writing news releases. He soon witnessed and worked on matters of planetary importance, such as the Cuban missile crisis and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's impassioned protest speech in the General Assembly, his family said.

Championed behind the scenes by a British diplomat, Beavan had the brains and conversational skills that made him a natural for foreign missions, often composed of endless rounds of meetings and meals, his children said. In Lebanon, he updated the news media on the limited infiltration of fighters in U.N.-controlled territory. He faced armed soldiers in Portugal as its colonies gained independence. He served in Cyprus, where troops kept peace between Turkey and Greece.

“It was really important to him to make a difference in the lives of many people,” said his daughter, Susan Beavan Oliver, of Westport, Massachusetts. “He just lived a life of service. That was his mission.”

Beavan, who retired from the U.N. after about 30 years, died Aug. 29 due to complications from a fall. The longtime Southold resident was 93.

The son of a reporter, he was born in the English coastal town of Blackpool. He was a pilot in the Royal Air Force from 1951 to 1953, stationed in Canada. He joked that he crashed two planes.

Beavan was studying geography at St. Catharine's College, part of the University of Cambridge, when The Economist, a global news publication, advertised for a reporter. He somehow convinced the outlet it needed him, his children said. That stint was followed by his job at the BBC and at Reuters in New York.

“His smarts got him to a lot of places,” said his son, Colin Beavan, of East Hampton.

The U.N. representative could be gone for as long as two years, family members said.

While his first wife, Judy Beavan, a U.N. secretary, stayed stateside, he would sometimes bring one of their children to spend weeks or months with him during his missions, a yen to expose them to diverse cultures and make family memories, his family said.

One treasured accomplishment was overseeing the first government elections in Namibia as it broke away from South Africa, his children said.

“He did a lot of work in Africa, and he was very proud to be trusted as a white man,” Beavan said.

His daughter accompanied him and an interpreter to explain to Namibian tribes what was going on.

“They didn’t even have a word for 'election,'” Beavan Oliver recalled. “We were close to South Africa and there were places where the bathrooms would say ‘Whites only.’ He was helping people register to vote so they could get their independence.”

But U.N. assignments took a toll, his family said. Friends were killed. He saw atrocities.

He realized he had an alcohol addiction in 1978, his son said: “He hurt himself while he was drinking and realized he should stop.”

He was sober for the rest of his life, his family said, and upon retirement, he dedicated himself to keeping dozens of recovering alcoholics on the path.

Leaving Manhattan for Long Island, he enjoyed midlife with his second wife, Beth Beavan, and learned to live in a house, drive and mow the lawn.

A voracious reader and a collector of many things, Beavan set out to buy every mystery novel ever written, his son said, but he only got to the letter C in authors' names.

Coping with diabetes in his later years, he was as mobile as possible due to the devotion of his wife, who cooked the right foods and made sure he got physical therapy, his children said.

At age 81, Beavan got it into his head to obtain his Cambridge degree, which was withheld because he never paid his final bill, so he finally graduated in the company of young students. At 91, he swam with pink dolphins in the Amazon.

Besides his children, he is also survived by his wife, Beth Beavan, of Southold. His first wife, Judy, and their child, David Beavan, died before him.

He was cremated, followed by a Quaker-style service Sept. 20 at DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Southold.