Founding Grateful Dead Member Bob Weir Dead at 78
On Saturday, Jan. 10, Bob Weir, rhythm guitarist, co-vocalist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, died at the age of 78. His death was announced in a post on…
On Saturday, Jan. 10, Bob Weir, rhythm guitarist, co-vocalist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, died at the age of 78.
His death was announced in a post on social media, which also announced that Weir was diagnosed with cancer in July of 2025 and had been fighting the disease. Weir had been undergoing treatment right before Dead & Company's August concerts at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
Official Statement on Bob Weir's Death
"It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir," the statement read. "He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues."
The statement continued, "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."
The social media post was also hopeful, stating that his final San Francisco shows "were not farewells, but gifts."
"There is no final curtain here, not really. Only the sense of someone setting off again," the post added. "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 along with Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan and Bill Kreutzmann co-founded the Grateful Dead in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1965. Drummer Mickey Hart and lyricist Robert Hunter joining the band in 1967.
Weir was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the Grateful Dead in 1994.
