For­mer Delaware Attor­ney Gen­er­al and Delaware Army Nation­al Guard Major Beau Biden, the son of Vice Pres­i­dent Joe Biden, has died after suc­cumb­ing to brain can­cer, the Vice Pres­i­den­t’s office has announced. He was only forty-six.

“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,” said the Vice Pres­i­dent in a state­ment sent to NPI by the White House.

Beau Biden speak­ing on the cam­paign trail (Pho­to cour­tesy of Chris Coons for Senate)

“The entire Biden fam­i­ly is sad­dened beyond words,” the Vice Pres­i­dent con­tin­ued. “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’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. 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.”

On March 22nd, 2012, U.S. Ambas­sador Mark H. Giten­stein offi­cial­ly ded­i­cat­ed the new Embassy in Bucharest, Roma­nia. The cer­e­mo­ny includ­ed a rib­bon-cut­ting and the unveil­ing of a plaque that has been placed on the main entrance to the Embassy. The keynote speak­er for the event was Delaware Attor­ney Gen­er­al Joseph R. “Beau” Biden, III. (Pho­to: Unit­ed States Embassy Romania)

Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma added a lengthy state­ment of his own express­ing his fam­i­ly’s pro­found sad­ness and con­do­lences to the Bidens.

“Michelle and I are griev­ing tonight,” the Pres­i­dent said. “Beau Biden was a friend of ours.  His beloved fam­i­ly – Hal­lie, Natal­ie, and Hunter – are friends of ours. And Joe and Jill Biden are as good as friends get.”

“Beau took after Joe. He stud­ied the law, like his dad, even choos­ing the same law school. He chased a life of pub­lic ser­vice, like his dad, serv­ing in Iraq and as Delaware’s Attor­ney Gen­er­al. 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. But 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.”

“Just like his dad.”

“Joe is one of the strongest men we’ve ever known.  He’s as strong as they come, and noth­ing mat­ters to him more than fam­i­ly.  It’s one of the things we love about him.  And it is a tes­ta­ment to Joe and Jill – to who they are – that Beau lived a life that was full; a life that mat­tered; a life that reflect­ed their rev­er­ence for family.”

“The Bidens have more fam­i­ly than they know.  In the Delaware they love.  In the Sen­ate Joe reveres.  Across this coun­try that he has served for more than forty years.  And they have a fam­i­ly right here in the White House, where hun­dreds of hearts ache tonight – for Hal­lie, Natal­ie, and Hunter; for Joe and for Jill; for Beau’s broth­er, Hunter; his sis­ter, Ash­ley, and for the entire Biden clan.”

“ ‘I have believed the best of every man,’ wrote the poet William But­ler Yeats, ‘And find that to believe it is enough to make a bad man show him at his best or even a good man swing his lantern higher.’ ”

“Beau Biden believed the best of us all.  For him, and for his fam­i­ly, we swing our lanterns high­er. Michelle and I humbly pray for the good Lord to watch over Beau Biden, and to pro­tect and com­fort his fam­i­ly here on Earth.”

All of us at NPI are sad­dened to hear of the death of Beau Biden, and we extend our deep­est con­do­lences to the Sec­ond Fam­i­ly, as well as the First Fam­i­ly. Beau Biden was an exem­plary pub­lic ser­vant, an accom­plished sol­dier, and a lov­ing father. His death is a great loss for Delaware and for the Unit­ed States of America.

Beau Biden was born Feb­ru­ary 3rd, 1969, as the first child of Joe Biden and Neil­ia Hunter. His moth­er Neil­ia and sis­ter Nao­mi Christi­na Biden trag­i­cal­ly died in 1972 in a car crash, in which he and his broth­er Hunter were also crit­i­cal­ly injured.

Like his father, he was edu­cat­ed at Arch­mere Acad­e­my. He lat­er attend­ed the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia and Syra­cuse Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege of Law. After grad­u­at­ing, he went to work for the Depart­ment of Jus­tice in Philadel­phia, Penn­syl­va­nia, ulti­mate­ly becom­ing a fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor. He was briefly a part­ner in the law firm of Bif­fer­a­to, Gen­tilot­ti, Biden & Bal­ick before win­ning elec­tion as the forty-fourth attor­ney gen­er­al of Delaware in 2006. He served two terms and had been plan­ning to run for gov­er­nor to suc­ceed Jack Markell next year.

Beau Biden at the 2012 Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion in Char­lotte. (Pho­to by NPI’s good friend Al Gar­man, repro­duced with permission)

At both the 2008 and 2012 Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tions, Beau deliv­ered mem­o­rable and stir­ring speech­es intro­duc­ing his father Joe Biden. I can well remem­ber watch­ing those intro­duc­to­ry remarks — they were compelling.

Beau Biden was wide­ly admired and respect­ed in his home state of Delaware, as can be seen from the out­pour­ing of grief in response to his pass­ing. He will be sore­ly missed. Tonight, our prayers and deep­est sym­pa­thies are with all who knew him well, espe­cial­ly the fam­i­ly and good friends that he leaves behind.