Founding member of the Grateful Dead Bob “Bobby” Weir has succumbed to complications from cancer. He was 78.

His death was announced Saturday evening with his homepage paying homage to a brilliant guitarist.

“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,” his daughter, Chloe, writes.

Weir tirelessly played rhythm guitar to Gerry Garcia’s soaring lead solos, helping to establish the Dead as the most successful jam band of the rock age. Garcia passed away in 1995, leaving Weir to go on alone.

Founding bassist Phil Lesh died in 2024.

“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,” the site states.

Weir was more than just a great guitarist; he was a brilliant vocalist, bringing to life the lyrics written by Robert Hunter, especially in “Ripple.”

“If my words did glow

with the gold of sunshine

and my tunes were played

on a harp unstrung 

would you hear my voice

come through the music

would you hold it near

as it were your own?”

His career did ripple through the industry, spawning bands like Phish, and others who now dared to take a song to new corners with every performance.

“There is no final curtain here, not really,” his daughter adds. “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’.”

She adds in the essay that the family, wife Natascha, daughters Monet and Chloe, “request privacy during this difficult time and offer their gratitude for the outpouring of love, support, and remembrance. 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. Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings.”

Weir joined the Grateful Dead — originally the Warlocks — in 1965 in San Francisco at just 17 years old. He’d spend the next 30 years playing on endless tours with the Grateful Dead.

Weir wrote or co-wrote and sang lead vocals on Dead classics including “Sugar Magnolia,” “One More Saturday Night” and “Mexicali Blues.”

In the decades since he kept playing with other projects including Dead and Company. Weir’s death leaves drummer Bill Kreutzmann as the only surviving original member.

Herald wire services contributed.

Bob Weir arrives at Willie Nelson 90, celebrating the singer’s 90th birthday on Saturday, April 29, 2023, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. (Photo by Allison Dinner/Invision/AP,File)
This undated file photo shows members of the Grateful Dead band, from left to right, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, Brent Mydland, Bill Kreutzmann, and Bob Weir. The 47th Kennedy Center class will be honored with an evening of tributes, testimonials and performances on Dec. 8 at Washington’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. (AP Photo/File)