5 things to know about Beau Biden

By Cox Media Group National Content Desk

WASHINGTON (

) — Beau Biden, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's oldest son,

after a fight with brain cancer. He was 46.

Here are some facts about Biden:

1. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2013.

He had surgery at Houston's University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to remove a lesion and received radiation and chemotherapy treatment, according to

. He had a relapse earlier this month and was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington.

2. He served two terms as attorney general of Delaware.

In 2014, he announced that he wouldn't seek a third term and was considering running for governor in 2016, the AP reported.

3. He was a major in the Delaware National Guard.

In 2008, he was deployed to Iraq for a year and received a Bronze Star. A spokesman said Biden is entitled to military funeral honors.

4. He was a lawyer.

He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and went to Syracuse University for his law degree. He spent five years as a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia and later focused on securities litigation at the Grant & Eisenhofer law firm in Wilmington, Delaware, the AP reported.

5. He was focused on his family.

He is survived by his wife, Hallie, and two children, Natalie and Hunter. "More than his professional accomplishments, Beau measured himself as a husband, father, son and brother," Joe Biden said. "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."

Beau Biden was preceded in death by his mother, Neilia, and sister Naomi, who were killed in a car accident in 1972. He and his brother, Hunter, were injured in the wreck.

Mobile app users, click here to view the photo gallery of Biden through the years with his family.

Cox Media Group