Vice President Joe Biden has announced that his son, Joseph Robinette “Beau” Biden III, the former state attorney general of Delaware, died Saturday after battling brain cancer for several years.
Considered the rising star of the Biden family dynasty, Beau Biden, 46, was recently admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, bravely fighting for his life.
According to the Washington Post , Joe Biden has remained mostly private in the last weeks of his son’s life.
As reported by ABC News , Joe Biden released a statement Saturday night.
“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 entire Biden family is saddened beyond words. We know that Beau’s spirit will live on in all of us — especially through his brave wife, Hallie, and two remarkable children, Natalie and Hunter.
Beau Biden; combat vet and former Delaware AG has died of brain cancer. Prayers for the family he was only 46 pic.twitter.com/xMtWrV4ZK0
— SalenaZito (@SalenaZitoTrib) May 31, 2015
Beau Biden fell ill in August of 2013 and checked into one of the world’s best cancer treatment centers, Texas Medical Center, in Houston, to begin his fight with the disease.
Biden is survived by his wife, Natalie, and their two children.
Beau’s rise to fame came in 2008, when he introduced father Joe Biden when he accepted the nomination as vice president at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Joe Biden with son Beau when he was an Army Captain in Iraq in 2009. R.I.P. http://t.co/HFO27HMwkx pic.twitter.com/1cdjQNeF3M
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) May 31, 2015
After serving in Iraq for a year, he was able to return to watch Joe Biden take the oath of office.
Joe Biden has had his fair share of family tragedy. In December, 1972, his wife, Neilla, and their three children were in a horrific car crash on the way home from purchasing the family Christmas tree. His wife and daughter tragically died, and his two sons, Beau and Hunter, survived.
As his son’s health declined in recent weeks, Joe Biden’s public schedule was reduced so that he could be by his son’s side.
In his statement, Joe Biden called his son “the finest man any of us have ever known.”
“Beau’s life was defined by service to others. As a young lawyer, he worked to establish the rule of law in war-torn Kosovo. A major in the Delaware National Guard, he was an Iraq War veteran and was awarded the Bronze Star. As Delaware’s Attorney General, he fought for the powerless and made it his mission to protect children from abuse,” the vice president said.
Beau Biden, 46, son of Vice President Joe Biden, dies after battling brain cancer. http://t.co/rL7syvafj7 pic.twitter.com/7R5Cn0SO3T
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) May 31, 2015
“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.”
President Barack Obama also released a statement upon hearing the news.
MORE: Obama offers condolences on Beau Biden’s passing: “Michelle and I are grieving tonight” http://t.co/EriRb4Q0bi pic.twitter.com/ixHTShoRl1
— The Hill (@thehill) May 31, 2015
“Michelle and I are grieving tonight. For all that Beau Biden achieved in his life, nothing made him prouder; nothing made him happier; nothing claimed a fuller focus of his love and devotion than his family.”
[Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images]