 Beyer had a degree in physical education and in retirement ran a sports store in Mainz.His father Erich competed nationally in the shot put.Beyer suffered a fatal heart attack while playing tennis in the Turkish beach resort of Belek, possibly as a delayed result of the use of anabolic steroids throughout his career, to which he freely admitted in a 1977 interview in the "Aktuelles Sportstudio" on ZDF.