Bob Weir, guitarist, vocalist and founding member of The Grateful Dead, has died aged 78. His family confirmed that Weir passed peacefully on January 10, 2026, following complications from underlying lung issues. He had been diagnosed with cancer in mid-2025 and had successfully completed treatment.
In a statement issued by his daughter Chloe Weir, the family said,
“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.
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.
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’.
His loving family, Natascha, 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.”
Born Robert Hall Weir on October 16, 1947, in San Francisco, Weir’s life in music began with a chance meeting on New Year’s Eve 1963 at Dana Morgan’s Music Store in Palo Alto, where he encountered Jerry Garcia. That night of informal playing set in motion a partnership that would become the Grateful Dead, one of the most culturally significant bands in American history.
As the Dead’s principal rhythm guitarist, Weir developed a highly individual approach that redefined the role, drawing on jazz harmony, folk structures and unusual chord voicings. His voice became central to the band’s catalogue, particularly on songs that bridged rock and country traditions. Titles such as Playing In The Band, Sugar Magnolia and Truckin’ remain deeply woven into the fabric of live music culture.
Weir’s career extended far beyond the Grateful Dead’s original 1965-1995 run. He remained a tireless performer through projects including Kingfish, Bobby And The Midnites, RatDog, Furthur and, later, Dead & Company, which introduced the Dead’s repertoire to new generations from 2015 through to the band’s final tour in 2023 and its Sphere residencies in 2024 and 2025.
His solo work, beginning with Ace in 1972 and continuing through to Blue Mountain in 2016, reflected a lifelong engagement with American song traditions. In later years, Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros, often expanded with The Wolfpack and full symphony orchestras, showcased his interest in reimagining the Dead’s music in broader orchestral settings.
Weir was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with The Grateful Dead in 1994 and received Kennedy Center Honors in 2024. Beyond the stage, he was a committed environmental advocate and philanthropist, serving on boards including the Rex Foundation and HeadCount.
Bob Weir leaves behind his wife Natascha Münter and daughters Monet and Chloe. His influence, musical, cultural and communal, continues to resonate through a songbook he believed was built to last centuries.
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