{"id":128541,"date":"2026-01-11T00:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T00:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/128541\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T00:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T00:48:13","slug":"bob-weir-founding-member-of-the-grateful-dead-and-bay-area-native-dies-at-78-family-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/128541\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Weir: Founding member of the Grateful Dead and Bay Area native, dies at 78, family says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">SAN FRANCISCO &#8212; Bob Weir, guitarist, singer and founding member of the Grateful Dead, has died at age 78.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Weir&#8217;s death was announced Saturday in a statement on his <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bobweir\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Instagram page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA hsDdd DbOXS oklLN GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Bob Weir walks the field before the NFL Super Bowl 58 football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas.\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR WAUrb hakZw HlUVI \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/18384283_AP24042804490007.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bob Weir walks the field before the NFL Super Bowl 58 football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>(AP Photo\/George Walker IV)<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Weir joined the Grateful Dead &#8211; originally the Warlocks &#8211; in 1965 in San Francisco at just 17 years old. He&#8217;d spend the next 30 years playing on endless tours with the Grateful Dead alongside fellow singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Weir wrote or co-wrote and sang lead vocals on Dead classics including &#8220;Sugar Magnolia,&#8221; &#8220;One More Saturday Night&#8221; and &#8220;Mexicali Blues.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In the decades since he kept playing with other projects including Dead and Company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;For over sixty years, Bobby took to the road,&#8221; the Instagram statement said. A guitarist, vocalist, storyteller, and founding member of the Grateful Dead. Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">ABC7&#8217;s Anser Hassan will have more on this story tonight at 11 p.m.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA hsDdd DbOXS oklLN GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7news.com\/abc-news-live-local-watch\/11513295\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Now Streaming 24\/7 Click Here\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR WAUrb hakZw HlUVI \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765002263_737_11518842_247-NOWSTREAMING_1280x720.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO &#8212; Bob Weir, guitarist, singer and founding member of the Grateful Dead, has died at age&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[66322,65865,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-128541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-66322","9":"tag-no-otrc","10":"tag-san-francisco","11":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","12":"tag-san-francisco-news","13":"tag-sf","14":"tag-sf-headlines","15":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}