Horrible news. ESPN is reporting it, as is KNBR, so I guess it isn't just a wild rumor.
The definitive Rod Beck anecdote came from when he was in the minors trying to get his career back together for the Cubs' AAA team in Iowa. I don't know the exact quote, but the sentiment was all that mattered: "I'm staying in a trailer behind the centerfield fence. Come by for a beer after the game." That was an open invitation to anyone who attended an Iowa Cubs game during the year. I thought it might just be an apocryphal story, but it wasn't.
Here's hoping he's somewhere out there, forever pitching to Eddie Murray with the bases loaded and one out.
Edit: Great obituary from Henry Schulman. It's still hard to believe that Beck's gone.