Bob Weir, a founding member of the legendary San Francisco rock band Grateful Dead, has died at the age of 78, his family said on his website Saturday.
“He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could,” his daughter Chloe Weir wrote. “Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”
The guitarist and songwriter was diagnosed in July, she said. He began treatment weeks before performing with Dead & Company at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for three nights in August in observance of the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary.
“Those performances, emotional, soulful, and full of light, were not farewells, but gifts,” Chloe Weir wrote. “Another act of resilience. An artist choosing, even then, to keep going by his own design.”
Governor Gavin Newsom said Wier will be deeply missed.
“He was — and will always be — a king of psychedelic rock,” Newsom said on social media. “Bob Weir was a true son of California who helped create the soundtrack of a generation.”
A commenter on the website Reddit wrote, “‘What a long, strange, trip it’s been…’ RIP Bob, enjoy the big jam in the sky with Jerry.”
Grateful Dead singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia died in 1995. Singer and keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan died in 1973, while bass player Phil Lesh died in 2024.
Weir is survived by his wife, Natascha Muenter Wier, and daughters Shala Monet Weir and Chloe Kaelia Weir.
“May we honor him not only in sorrow, but in how bravely we continue with open hearts, steady steps, and the music leading us home,” Chloe Weir wrote. “Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings.”