Bob Weir, co-founder of the legendary rock band the Grateful Dead, died at age 78 on January 10, 2026, his family announced.
Weir’s passing was confirmed in a statement on his official website, which said he “transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could,” though he ultimately succumbed to underlying lung issues. The guitarist and singer helped define the Grateful Dead’s sound over more than six decades in music and remained active onstage through anniversary performances in 2025
Learn more about his life, career, and legacy below.
Weir co-founded the Grateful Dead in 1965 with Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. As the band’s rhythm guitarist and a frequent lead vocalist, Weir helped define their improvisational jam-band sound. He sang and co-wrote fan favorites like “Sugar Magnolia,” “One More Saturday Night,” and “Truckin’,” and appeared on landmark albums including Workingman’s Dead, American Beauty, and Europe ’72.
After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir continued touring and performing with various projects including RatDog, Furthur, and Dead & Company, keeping the band’s music alive for decades. He marked 60 years in music with performances as recently as 2025.
The statement shared on his website reflected on his lasting impact, saying, “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. ”
It added, “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.’”
