Bob Weir, Grateful Dead co-founder, dies at 78

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Bob Weir, a founding member of the iconic rock band Grateful Dead, has died at the age of 78.

Weir’s family announced his death Saturday through a statement on his website. Weir was diagnosed with cancer in July and “courageously” beat the disease, but “succumbed to underlying lung issues,” the statement said.

“He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could,” the statement continues.

Weir began his cancer treatment just weeks before performing at California’s Golden Gate Park last year.

Bob Weir ‘transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones,’ his family said (Amy Harris/Invision/AP File)

“Diagnosed in July, he began treatment only weeks before returning to his hometown stage for a three-night celebration of 60 years of music at Golden Gate Park. Those performances, emotional, soulful, and full of light, were not farewells, but gifts,” the statement reads.

Weir founded the Grateful Dead in 1965, alongside Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Ron McKernan. Weir went on to compose several hit songs for the band, including “Sugar Magnolia,” “Playing in the Band,” and “One More Saturday Night,” according to Variety.

Bob Weir ‘succumbed to underlying lung issues,’ his family said (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The Michael J. Fox Foundation)

After Garcia died in 1995, Weir and other members went on to pursue other musical projects. Weir has since won a number of accolades, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2024, Weir and the Grateful Dead were celebrated at the Kennedy Center Honors.

“There is no final curtain here, not really. Only the sense of someone setting off again. He often spoke of a three-hundred-year legacy, determined to ensure the songbook would endure long after him. May that dream live on through future generations of Dead Heads,” his family’s statement said.

“And so we send him off the way he sent so many of us on our way: with a farewell that isn’t an ending, but a blessing. A reward for a life worth livin’.”

Reactions and tributes have started pouring in online. The Empire State Building has announced it had changed the color of its spire to “shine in tie-dye to honor the life and legacy of Bob Weir” on Saturday evening.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.