Billy Bean, MLB’s DEI Executive, Dies at 60

(ProsperNews.net) – An executive for Major League Baseball (MLB) who served in roles related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) died last week from acute myeloid leukemia and the league paid tribute to the liberal advocate.

On Tuesday, August 6, Billy Bean died at the age of 60 after battling myeloid leukemia for over a year. Bean worked for MLB’s national office in several different roles, most notably as the senior vice president for DEI and as the commissioner’s special assistant.

MLB published a statement about Bean’s death and said he “worked passionately and tirelessly” with the league “and all 30 Clubs” for over a decade and that he focused on “player education” related to “LGBTQ inclusion” and “social justice initiatives,” promoting equality in baseball based on such initiatives.

Before his time as an “inclusion” executive, Bean played ball himself, including six seasons in the Major League with three teams: the Tigers, and Dodgers, and the Padres between 1987 and 1995. In 1992, he also played for Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) with the Kintetsu Buffaloes. Bean is sometimes confused with the former Oakland Athletics general manager who has the same name and was the focus of a biographical film in 2011 starring Brad Pitt.

The MLB named him as the first ambassador for inclusion in 2014. In 2016, the MLB created a higher DEI office called “Vice President, Social Responsibility & Inclusion,” promoted Bean and hired Curtis Pride as his replacement. Bean also served as the special assistant to Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, who described him as “one of the kindest and most respected” people he has ever known and someone who made the game of baseball “better” while on and off the field.

In 2023, after receiving a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia, the MLB honored Bean at its winter meetings charity auction. The auction benefits the organization Stand Up To Cancer. Honored alongside Bean was Catalina Villegas, the director of diversity for MLB, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2023. Bean did not attend the event, but spoke to the attendees in a recorded video in which he said he was diagnosed on Sept. 1, 2023, but kept it close to his chest while the season was in motion.