Beau Biden and Joe Biden at the 2008 Democratic National Convention (Getty Images)

Beau Biden, a son of Vice President Joe Biden and the former Attorney General of Delaware, died at age 46. The Vice President released a statement tonight, revealing that his son had been battling brain cancer.

It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley, Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life.

The entire Biden family is saddened beyond words. 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.

Beau’s life was defined by service to others. As a young lawyer, he worked to establish the rule of law in war-torn Kosovo. A major in the Delaware National Guard, he was an Iraq War veteran and was awarded the Bronze Star. As Delaware’s Attorney General, he fought for the powerless and made it his mission to protect children from abuse.

More than his professional accomplishments, Beau measured himself as a husband, father, son and brother. His absolute honor made him a role model for our family. Beau embodied my father’s saying that a parent knows success when his child turns out better than he did.

In the words of the Biden family: Beau Biden was, quite simply, the finest man any of us have ever known.

Beau Biden, born Joseph R. Biden III, had served two terms at Delaware AG but announced in 2014 that he wouldn’t run for reelection, to instead focus on a 2016 run for Governor. However, there had been concerns about his health, after he was treated at a cancer center and didn’t immediately reveal why (doctors later said there was lesion on his brain was removed).

This month, the White House said that Beau Biden was being treated at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, but his condition was not disclosed. He had also suffered a mild stroke in 2010.

The Washington Post writes, “He became a national political star in 2008 after delivering a stirring introduction of his father at the Democratic National Convention in Denver the night Joe Biden accepted the nomination as vice president, and a little more than a month later Beau Biden deployed to Iraq and served there for one year — except for a trip home in January 2009 to see his father take the oath of office as vice president.”

In his DNC introduction, Beau Biden recounted the fatal car crash that claimed the lives of his mother and baby sister while he, age three, and younger brother Hunter were injured, and how his father, just elected to the Senate, considered not taking the oath of office:

In 1973, Joe Biden was sworn in at the hospital chapel; Beau was in traction.

The WaPo adds, “In recent weeks, the vice president’s public schedule had declined as he regularly visited his son. Two weeks ago, during Yale University’s graduation week, he delivered a deeply personal speech to thousands of students and parents who had no idea what the vice president was personally enduring.”

Father and son share a hug at the 2008 DNC (Getty Images)

President Barack Obama released a statement, quoting Yeats:

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.

Beau Biden is survived by his wife Hallie and children Nathalie and Hunter, as well as his father, stepmother Jill, brother Hunter and sister Ashley.