Mark Beck had been a Milady author since the first publication of The Theory and Practice of Therapeutic Massage in 1988. Mark began his professional career as a massage therapist in 1974. He started teaching massage in 1978 and became a massage school owner and director in 1980. As school director for over 15 years, he developed curriculum, taught classes and continued a part time clinical practice. He served on the boards of a state and a national massage organization in different capacities including sec. of education, sec. of certification and president. In 1996 he earned a bachelor's degree in Vocational Education with an emphasis on massage therapy from the University of Idaho. A skiing accident in 1990 resulted in a C-6 spinal cord injury that landed Mark in a wheelchair with quadriplegia. That ended his active practice as a massage therapist but did not quell his dedication to the profession or his desire to provide the best possible information to thousands of students entering the profession by continually updating and refining The Theory and Practice of Therapeutic Massage. Mark continued to be an advocate for excellence in massage education and accessibility for the disabled until he sadly passed away in November 2016.