Beau Biden, Joe Biden's son, has died of brain cancer.

Courtesy of Reuters:  

Former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, son of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, died on Saturday after battling brain cancer, the vice president said. He was 46. 

"The entire Biden family is saddened beyond words," Vice President Biden said in a statement released by the White House. 

"We know that Beau's spirit will live on in all of us, especially through his brave wife, Hallie, and two remarkable children, Natalie and Hunter," he said. 

Beau Biden had announced last year he planned to run for governor of Delaware in 2016. 

He was diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2013 and underwent surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. After getting a "a clean bill of health" in November of that year, his cancer recurred in the spring of 2015, the vice president's office said. 

He sought aggressive treatment and had been hospitalized this month at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center outside Washington. 

His family was with him when he died. "Beau embodied my father's saying that a parent knows success when his child turns out better than he did," the vice president said. "In the words of the Biden family: Beau Biden was, quite simply, the finest man any of us have ever known."

I had another post scheduled for this slot, but I simply could not let this unfortunate event pass without comment.

Here is the statement from President Obama:  

Michelle and I are grieving tonight. Beau Biden was a friend of ours. His beloved family - Hallie, Natalie, and Hunter - are friends of ours. And Joe and Jill Biden are as good as friends get. 

Beau took after Joe. He studied the law, like his dad, even choosing the same law school. He chased a life of public service, like his dad, serving in Iraq and as Delaware's Attorney General. Like his dad, Beau was a good, big-hearted, devoutly Catholic and deeply faithful man, who made a difference in the lives of all he touched - and he lives on in their hearts. 

But for all that Beau Biden achieved in his life, nothing made him prouder; nothing made him happier; nothing claimed a fuller focus of his love and devotion than his family.

 Just like his dad. 

Joe is one of the strongest men we've ever known. He's as strong as they come, and nothing matters to him more than family. It's one of the things we love about him. And it is a testament to Joe and Jill - to who they are - that Beau lived a life that was full; a life that mattered; a life that reflected their reverence for family. 

The Bidens have more family than they know. In the Delaware they love. In the Senate Joe reveres. Across this country that he has served for more than forty years. And they have a family right here in the White House, where hundreds of hearts ache tonight - for Hallie, Natalie, and Hunter; for Joe and for Jill; for Beau's brother, Hunter; his sister, Ashley, and for the entire Biden clan. 

"I have believed the best of every man," wrote the poet William Butler Yeats, "And find that to believe it is enough to make a bad man show him at his best or even a good man swing his lantern higher." 

Beau Biden believed the best of us all. For him, and for his family, we swing our lanterns higher. 

Michelle and I humbly pray for the good Lord to watch over Beau Biden, and to protect and comfort his family here on Earth.

No parent should have to bury their child, and I think that all of us who are parents, regardless of our political points of view, are grieving with Joe Biden right now.

So with that in mind I am going to include Sarah Palin's remarks as well courtesy of Facebook:

Our family's prayers are with the Biden family tonight on the loss of their son, brother, husband and father, Beau Biden. He was a veteran of the Iraq war and was awarded the Bronze Star in recognition of his service, and continued his service in public office as well. We enjoyed the short time we got to spend with his beautiful family during the VP debate in 2008. Rest in Peace, Beau. 

Psalm 18:2 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” 

- Sarah Palin

Joe Biden has dealt with more loss in his life than I think most of us could bear, yet he still manages to walk through life with that huge smile plastered to his face while treating the people he meets as if he really cares about each and every one of them.

And that just might be because he does.

On behalf of myself, and all of us here at IM, I want to send our condolences to the Biden family.

Update: I think this is a much better picture to illustrate Joe Biden's love for his son.