In Joe Biden’s unbreakable bond with late son Beau Biden

Born two and a half years into Joe’s marriage to the college sweetheart Neilia Hunter BidenJoseph Robinette ‘Beau “Biden III certainly seemed the most likely to join the family business.

“I always knew Beau would follow in his father’s footsteps” Dr. Jill Biden (who gave this Rolex to her husband for Christmas for a year) told Vanity Fair about the son she met shortly after her and Joe’s first date in 1975. “He loved politics; he loved the campaigns, the picnics, and the coffee and parades.”

At Joe’s alma mater, the Archmere Academy in Delaware, Beau’s tendency to be a rule-chaser earned him the nickname “The Sheriff,” younger brother Hunter Biden shared with The New Yorker in 2019. “If we were going to jump off a cliff into a waterhole I would say, ‘I’m ready, let’s go’ and Beau would say, ‘Wait, wait, wait before we do it ‘Make sure there aren’t any rocks down there.’ “

In his first campaign, he was elected President of the Student Union with Hunter, just 12 months younger than him, and helped distribute campaign flyers. Building a formidable resume, Beau followed college at the University of Pennsylvania with Syracuse Law School (graduated in 1994, 26 years after Dad) before working as a federal attorney and private practice in Philadelphia.