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Beau Biden, 46,
who served eight years as attorney general of Delaware, died on
Saturday after a recurrence of brain cancer.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, went to the U.S. Naval
Observatory, the vice president's official residence, to offer
their condolences to the Biden family.
The Obamas had been scheduled to host a reception at the White
House on Sunday but it was canceled out of respect for the
Bidens.
Other Washington officials and politicians took to social media
to express their sympathies over the death of Biden, who was
married and had two children.
Secretary of State John Kerry called him "a son any father might
hope to raise" and recalled how Beau chose to continue serving
in the military in Iraq rather than be appointed to the Senate
seat his father was leaving to become vice president in 2009.
Senator Patrick Leahy, a long-time Senate colleague of Joe
Biden, called Beau "an impressive, down-to-earth person and a
natural leader."
Former President Bill Clinton and wife Hillary, who is running
for the Democratic presidential nomination, offered condolences
on Twitter, as did House Speaker John Boehner and potential
Republican presidential nominees Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Rick
Santorum, Mike Huckabee.
Beau Biden had a mild stroke in 2010 and was diagnosed with
brain cancer in August 2013. After surgery, radiation and
chemotherapy, he was given a clean bill of health but the cancer
returned in the spring of 2015.
Biden, who served a year-long tour in Iraq as a member of the
Delaware Army National Guard, had announced last year he planned
to run for governor of Delaware in 2016.
As a boy, Beau and his brother survived a 1972 car accident that
killed their mother and sister shortly after Joe Biden had been
elected to the Senate.
(Reporting Annika McGinnis; Writing by Bill Trott; Editing by
Sandra Maler)
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