A pioneer in the field of real-time electronic journalism, Mr. Beiser not only helped establish the Nexis research service, but also created and served as managing editor of the Standard & Poor's News Service for McGraw-Hill.
The Kansas City native later served as founding managing editor of AFX News, the London-based financial newswire owned by Agence France-Presse and the Financial Times Group.
A news-agency man from the start, Mr. Beiser began his career at Reuters in London in 1963. Alex McCallum, who worked alongside him at Reuters in the 1960s, credited Mr. Beiser with being among the first true financial journalists Reuters employed, one who went beyond mere numbers reporting to put financial news in perspective.
"He was really a jump ahead of everybody in being able to look at the big picture," Mr. McCallum said. "He had a great gift for creating the right kind of reporting network for a newswire service."
Mr. Beiser helped develop Reuters' economic service and became its chief news editor in 1969. He later was promoted to editor of Reuters European service. Upon returning to the States, he was named managing editor, Reuters North America.
He graduated with a degree in history and government from Kansas City University and went on to pursue postgraduate studies at the Free University of Berlin, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris and the Bologna Center of The Johns Hopkins University.
Mr. Beiser died July 14, 1999, at 68.