James William Beasley

Col. James William Beasley USAR (Ret.) 20 November 1936 - 22 January 2015 James William Beasley, 78, passed away peacefully on January 22, 2015 in Tucson, Arizona. He was born on November 20, 1936 to William L and Emma I Beasley, in Lynd, Minnesota. Predeceased by his wife Inge with whom he shared 30 years of marriage, and by his sister Lettie J Cale. Survivors include his two sons Eric and Marc (Jane), his 2 grandchildren, and his brothers George and Clair (Sally). James graduated from Tempe Union High School in 1954 and earned his BS in Accounting from Arizona State University in 1958. He was concurrently commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Finance Corps. Upon graduation, he entered civilian service for the General Accounting Office (GAO). In 1959 he entered active military service, serving as Finance Officer in Corlu, Turkey; Accounting Officer in Heidelberg, Germany; Financial Management Instructor at the U.S. Army Quartermaster School, Ft. Lee, Virginia; and a proponent for a major logistics accounting system at Presidio of San Francisco, California. The computer system he designed on this assignment was deployed by the U.S. Army world-wide as its main accounting system for materiel below the depot level. In 1965, while on active military duty, James passed the 2.5-day Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Examination and awarded the Gold Medal by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants for the highest overall grade of over 300 examinees in Virginia. James returned to civilian service in 1968 as an Accounting Staff Officer at Headquarters, U.S. Army Europe. In 1971 he was selected to attend the U.S. Army Comptrollership School, Syracuse University and received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in 1972. Upon graduation, James was assigned to the Office, Comptroller of the Army, at the Pentagon where he was responsible for installation-level logistic accounting policies and systems. In 1974 James returned to Headquarters, U.S. Army Europe as Chief, Management Systems, in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Resource Management. He entered his last position as principal deputy to the senior finance commander in the U.S. Army, Europe in 1978, where he oversaw operations exceeding $3 billion annual volume and 600 employees. James was very active in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1968 until his retirement in 1988. He was Director of Instruction and subsequently, Commandant, 3747th USAR School, in Frankfurt, Germany. He also became an adjunct instructor/professor at Schiller International University, Heidelberg, Germany. James was an avid coin-collector and Professional Numismatist. He also kept busy in retirement traveling and sightseeing in Europe and the Middle East. He was much loved and will be sorely missed. Funeral service at Bring's Broadway Chapel, 6910 E Broadway Blvd., Tucson, on January 27, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. Burial will be held at the Southern Arizona Veterans' Cemetery, 1300 Buffalo Soldier Trail, Sierra Vista, on January 27, 2015, at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust (www.dav.org).