Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Beau, died Saturday following a yearslong battle with brain cancer, the Office of the Vice President announced. He was 46.
“The entire Biden family is saddened beyond words,” the vice president’s statement said. “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 was first treated for brain cancer in August 2013, the Washington Post reported. He died from the disease Saturday.
Beau was Joe Biden’s first-born child, and made his own mark in government as a Delaware’s attorney general between 2007 and Jan. 6, 2015.
In addition to his role as attorney general, Beau Biden worked as a lawyer, a major in the Delaware National Guard and was an Iraq War veteran who was awarded the Bronze Star, according to the vice president’s statement.
“As Delaware’s attorney general, he fought for the powerless and made it his mission to protect children from abuse,” the statement said.
Beau Biden attended his father’s high school, Archmere Academy in Delaware, where he was class president, the Post reported. Beau then attented his parents’ alma mater, Syracuse University.
President Barack Obama said in a statement following Saturday’s announcement that Beau, “chased a life of public service, like his dad.”
“Like his dad, 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,” the president stated.
Above all, the president and vice president stated, Beau Biden was devoted to his family.
“More than his professional accomplishments, Beau measured himself as a husband, father, son and brother,” the vice president stated. “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.”
Beau was one of four children Joe Biden had, and was the second child the vice president lost, the AP reported.
In 1972, Joe Biden’s wife Neilia and daughter Naomi were killed in an automobile crash while Christmas shopping. Beau and younger brother Hunter were critically injured in the incident but survived.
Beau Biden was survived by his wife, two children, two siblings, and his father.