Roy Beck, born in 1948, is an American journalist, author, and activist best known as the founder and president of NumbersUSA, a nonprofit organization advocating for reduced immigration levels to promote population stabilization, habitat conservation, and economic fairness for non-college-educated American workers, particularly descendants of American slavery. Raised in the small town of Marshfield, Missouri, in a working-class family—his father was a milkman and his mother a school secretary—Beck was influenced by early experiences delivering milk, collecting cans for pocket money, and performing manual labors such as production-line welding, roofing, haying, landscaping, and bridge construction. These formative years instilled in him a commitment to policies supporting ordinary workers and entrepreneurs, shaping his lifelong focus on environmental and immigration issues. He graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and began his professional career as an environmental reporter in the late 1960s, working for The Grand Rapids Press and The Cincinnati Enquirer. Transitioning into advocacy, he founded NumbersUSA in the 1990s, becoming a prominent figure in the immigration restrictionist movement. A longtime ally of John Tanton, Beck has collaborated professionally with figures like Dan Stein, emphasizing the environmental and economic impacts of high immigration rates. His work critiques elite-driven policies and promotes fairness for American laborers, drawing from his observations of small-town life and broader societal trends.