British ecologist born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, and educated in forestry at Oxford University. John Beard started his career as a forest officer in the West Indies, but after the Second World War moved to South Africa, where worked on crop improvement for the Wattle Research Institute in Pietermaritzburg (1947-1961). Based in Natal and the Transvaal, he also made frequent visits in connection with the wattle industry to the highland areas of Africa further north. During this time he developed an interest in the genus Protea, and with Brian Rycroft embarked on a survey of the genus. Rycroft concentrated on the Cape species, while Beard surveyed the rest of Africa, using his annual leave to visit areas not covered on his business trips. Beard also collaborated with Laura Ripley, a botanical artist from Natal, who completed a series of colour illustrations based on his specimens and colour photographs.

By the time he emigrated to Australia in 1961, Beard had completed his portion of the survey, but Rycroft's study remained unfinished until some years later when J.P. Rourke was persuaded to take up where Rycroft had left off. This led to the publication in 1980 of Rourke's Proteas of Southern Africa, which included the Ripley illustrations of non-Cape species. Although several papers were published along the way, the survey was not completed until 1993 when Beard published Proteas of Tropical Africa.

In Australia, Beard worked on the Vegetation Survey of Western Australia (1974-81), and was director of King's Park and Botanic Garden and of the University of Western Australia Garden in Perth, and later of the Royal Botanic Gardens and National Herbarium in Sydney. Perhaps his most important work in Australia is in the field of vegetation classification and mapping, particularaly his involvement in the Vegetation Survey of Western Australia (1974-1981). Euterpe beardii L.H. Bailey, Chrysophyllum beardii Cronquist, and Eucalyptus beardiana Brooker & Blaxell are named in his honour.