Obituary: Gary Beevers, Retired International Vice President

Gary Beevers, who served as a USW international vice president for nine years before retiring in 2015, died on October 26, 2025, at the age of 72.

Beevers began his career as a union activist in the early 1970s, when he followed in his father’s footsteps and went to work at Texaco in Port Arthur, Texas. There, he became a member of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW), which later merged to form PACE. He served Local 13-423 as a steward, recording secretary and as chair of the workers’ committee before joining the union staff in 1987.

In 2005, when PACE merged with the USW, Beevers became director of District 13. A year later, he was elected international vice president. In that role, he oversaw the union’s National Oil Bargaining Program.

In leading negotiations for more than 30,000 USW members in the oil and petrochemical industry, Beevers consistently fought to improve health and safety for workers.

It was that issue that forced USW oil workers to launch an unfair labor practice strike in February 2015, the first large-scale walkout in the industry in 35 years. USW members later ratified a four-year agreement that improved refinery safety for workers and communities across the country.

“I was always outspoken, and I found an outlet to put that to good use,” Beevers said when he retired in 2015. “I saw how the union impacted families and how things got better every two or three years with the next contract. I want this to continue for the next generation of kids who want to work in a refinery.”