Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead Dies at 78

Bob Weir, the legendary guitarist, singer, and songwriter with the Grateful Dead, died January 10 of an underlying lung condition after battling cancer.

He was 78.

His family announced via his Instagram account, "It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir. He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues."
 
The statement went on, "For over sixty years, Bobby took to the road. A guitarist, vocalist, storyteller, and founding member of the Grateful Dead. Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music. His work did more than fill rooms with music; it was warm sunlight that filled the soul, building a community, a language, and a feeling of family that generations of fans carry with them. Every chord he played, every word he sang was an integral part of the stories he wove. There was an invitation: to feel, to question, to wander, and to belong."
 
"Bobby’s final months reflected the same spirit that defined his life. 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. Another act of resilience. An artist choosing, even then, to keep going by his own design. As we remember Bobby, it’s hard not to feel the echo of the way he lived. A man driftin’ and dreamin’, never worrying if the road would lead him home. A child of countless trees. A child of boundless seas."
 
Sounding an upbeat note, it went on, "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. 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’."
 
Weir is survived by his wife Natascha and their daughters Monet and Chloe.

Weir was born October 16, 1947, in San Francisco. He took up the guitar by 13 and co-founded the band that would come to be known as the Grateful Dead with Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia in 1965.

A legendary jam band, its original incarnation — minus McKernan, who died in 1973 — remained together for 30 straight years, breaking up when Garcia died in 1995.

Weir and others continued to perform in various forms of the band, including the Dead and the Other Ones, right into 2025.

Weir's contributions to the Grateful Dead were indelible, including famous "Sugar Magnolia," "Truckin'," and "The Other One," one of his best-loved compositions.

He released four solo albums between 1972-2016 and played live continuously.

The Grateful Dead's legacy was as a live act, one that inspired legions of fans who followed them from gig to gig, calling themselves the Deadheads. The group released 13 studio albums and nine live albums in its initial 30-year run, producing just one Top 40 hit — 1987's "Touch of Grey," which hit no. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"We will get by / We will survive," the song goes, and the band's legacy has done that, through decades, lineup changes, and changing musical tastes.

Weir was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame with his bandmates in 1994, and was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2024.