Beau Biden “Made You Want To Be A Better Person,” Says Obama

"He made you want to be a better person," President Obama said of Joseph R. Biden III, commonly known as Beau Biden, during a moving eulogy for the late son of Vice President Joe Biden at St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church today. "Like his father, Beau did not have a mean bone in his body," Obama told the more than 1,000 mourners, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the congressional leaders of both political parties, that were in attendance to celebrate the life of the vice president's eldest son, The Washington Post reports. "From his dad, he learned how to get back up when life got him down. "We do not know how long we’ve got here," the president continued. "We don’t know when fate will intervene. We cannot discern God's plan. What we do know is that with every minute that we've got, we can live our lives in a way that takes nothing for granted. We can love deeply. We can help people who need help. We can teach our children what matters. We can pass on empathy and compassion and selflessness." Coldplay's Chris Martin was also in attendance to perform "'Til Kingdom Come," per the Hollywood Reporter. An Iraq War veteran who served as Delaware's attorney general until earlier this year, 46-year-old Biden passed away from brain cancer on May 30 and is survived by his wife, Hallie Biden, and their two children. The Biden family is sadly no stranger to tragedy; four decades ago, a now infamous car crash killed Beau's mother and baby sister, and injured Beau and his brother. In recent years, Beau had been struggling with severe health issues, including suffering a stroke in 2010. The tragedies of his youth did not stop Beau from leading a meaningful life, Obama emphasized in a part of the eulogy transcribed by NBC News. "Rather than use his childhood trauma for justification for a life of self-pity or self-centeredness, that very young boy made a very grown-up decision: He would live a life of meaning, he would live a life for others." "He did in 46 years what most of us couldn't do in 146 years," the president added in closing, before giving the vice president a heartfelt hug.

Our thoughts are with the Biden family during this tragic time.