Guitarist, singer and jam band icon, Bob Weir, passed away unexpectedly on Saturday evening. He was 78. Weir performed for more than 60 years, defining a generation through his music, giving a multitude of fans worldwide a connection and community that is unparalleled.
The loss of Weir follows the passing of fellow Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh in October 2024, and Donna Jean Godchaux in November 2025.
The passing of the legend was announced by his family on Instagram.
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.
Weir began his career with the Grateful Dead unexpectedly, wandering Palo Alto, CA on New Year’s Eve 1963, when he heard the sounds of a banjo being played. He discovered that Jerry Garcia was the man behind the music, and Weir recalled this initial meeting, saying “We sat down and started jamming and had a great old rave. I had my guitar with me and we played a little and decided to start a jug band.”
Thus was born Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, who would eventually become the Grateful Dead in 1965, along with Garcia, Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Rob “Pigpen” McKernan. The group performed at the initial Acid Tests in the San Francisco Bay area, became a counter-cultural phenomenon that toured the country, loyal fans following them along the way, and making thousands of more fans in the process.
One of the most American bands ever, the Grateful Dead have a musical and cultural impact that is difficult to quantify, if only because iterations of the band continued until 2025 with Dead and Company, as well as Grateful Dead cover bands found throughout the country.
Weir had other bands alongside the Grateful Dead, including Kingfish, RatDog, Bobby and the Midnites, and most recently, Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros. Weir’s final New York performances were in late 2023 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester with the Wolf Bros, photos of which can be found here.
Weir spoke to Rolling Stone in a 2025 interview, sharing, “I have a feeling that it’s music that’s going to bring this country together,” a positive outlook still shared by many.
In the same interview, Weir spoke about death, opining, “I’ll say this: I look forward to dying. I tend to think of death as the last and best reward for a life well-lived. That’s it. I’ve still got a lot on my plate, and I won’t be ready to go for a while.” Bob Weir is survived by his wife Natascha, and daughters Monet and Chloe.
Notably, as the Sirius/XM Grateful Dead channel pointed out, the final song Jerry Garcia played was a Phil Lesh song, “Box of Rain,” the final song Phil Lesh played was a Bob Weir song, “Sugar Magnolia,” and the final song Bob Weir played was “Touch of Gray,” a Jerry Garcia song, bringing the trio’s music (and the words of Robert Hunter) full circle.
Watch Bob Weir with Ratdog at the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse in 2002.
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