Beau Biden, son of Vice President Joe Biden, died Saturday of brain cancer at the age of 46 at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington.
“It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley, Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life,” the Vice President’s statement from the family read. “More than his professional accomplishments, Beau measured himself as a husband, father, son and brother. His absolute honor made him a role model for our family. Beau embodied my father’s saying that a parent knows success when his child turns out better than he did.” “In the words of the Biden family: Beau Biden was, quite simply, the finest man any of us have ever known,” it concluded.
Beau Biden served as attorney general of Delaware and joined the Delaware National Guard in 2003. He was deployed to Iraq in 2008, the same year his father ran for vice president. It was at the 2008 Democratic Convention he delivered an impassioned speech to introduce his father.
In 2010, Beau Biden suffered what officials called a mild stroke, but three years later doctors said they removed a small lesion from his brain.
President Barack Obama’s statement pointed out that, “Beau was a good, big-hearted, devoutly Catholic and deeply faithful man who made a difference in the lives of all he touched — and he lives on in their hearts.”
This elegant statement from @POTUS captures the grace of #BeauBiden. RIP pic.twitter.com/EAl0whCpLb
— (((sfpelosi))) (@sfpelosi) May 31, 2015
Joe Biden also lost his wife and 13-month-old daughter Naomi in a tragic car crash. Beau had also been in the car with his brother, Hunter, who also lived.
