Delaware remembers, mourns Beau Biden

Beau Biden was described by ordinary Delawareans on Sunday as a good man – sensitive and caring, principled and tough.

Many loved Biden. And even those who didn't know him grieved for the former attorney general who had earlier announced he would run for governor in 2016. Biden, 46, died at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Saturday after a battle with brain cancer.

"It's tragic not just because he was so young, but because of what he could have done for his state," said Darryl Skrovanek, a teacher at Dickinson High School and one of several Beau Biden fans among the lunch crowd at J's Cafe in Greenville. "He was a good man."

Skrovanek said the Biden family is a regular sight in the cafe. Like many residents, he says both Beau and his dad, Vice President Joe Biden, are a perfect example of how unusually close political leaders are to regular folks in Delaware.

"Both of them, they'd remember your name," Skrovanek said. "They could just walk up to you and strike up a conversation."

Bob Maxwell, a former state legislator, also frequently ran into the Bidens at J's. Maxwell has known Beau since he was a teenager.

"He was the kind of student who could easily be elected class president," Maxwell said.

When Beau joined the military, Maxwell said, he wasn't the least surprised. And it made him proud.

"I think a lot of Delawareans were proud," Maxwell said.

News of Biden's death also fell hard on St. Joseph's on the Brandywine. The Biden family attends church there, and both Beau's children are in religious education classes at St. Joseph's.

"People have been expressing their sympathies this morning at the death of Beau," said Monsignor Joseph Rebman, the church's pastor. "The thought of a parent burying their child is just so heartbreaking."

Rebman said Beau began attending church more frequently after stepping down as attorney general, sometimes coming for weekday masses.

Beau's passing was on the minds of Delawareans all over the state.

Robert Wheatley, chairman of the Sussex Planning & Zoning Commission, was one of dozens of Sussex Democrats who gathered in an Ocean View park Sunday for a barbecue lunch where Biden's death, and his life in politics, was part of just about every conversation. "The guy, really, he was a man who knew what he was," Wheatley said of Biden. "He knew people knew him. But he also knew what people needed."

Mitch Crane, director of the Sussex Democratic Party, said even though it seemed Biden wasn't well, his death was difficult to accept.

"As much as you thought this is where it was going to go," Crane said, "it's still a shock that it happened."

He knew Biden, in part, as a somewhat introverted person who, in politics, stood out in the company of extroverts.

"He really was personable, but shy," Crane said. "He didn't have his father's outgoing personality. Beau was more reserved."

Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, also attended the Ocean View lunch. Sitting under some shade on a picnic bench, he recalled the time in Biden's career as attorney general that most Sussex Countians know best: The prosecution of Earl Bradley, a pediatrician now serving life sentences for the repeated, violent sexual molestation of children who were his patients. Biden cited the importance of winning a guilty verdict for Bradley in 2010 to explain why he did not run for U.S. Senate.

"The Bradley case down here was a defining moment for Beau," Schwartzkopf said. "He had an opportunity to go to Congress. That case truly affected him. He knew that he could use his position to help kids."

John Carney, Delaware's Democratic Congressman, was at the Ocean View barbecue, too, thinking and talking about the Bidens.

"He was incredibly sweet and principled," Carney said of Biden. "He was kind of sensitive and caring. He made everybody feel special."

But Carney said Beau Biden's softness was paired with a quiet toughness.

"You can't fight the bad guys like he did if you're not tough, as well as empathetic," Carney said.

Added Chris Calio, whose father, Frank Calio, has been involved in Sussex politics: "He took time out from his life as attorney general to come down and speak at my mother's funeral. That doesn't happen often."

Many people who lived near the Bidens had noticed Beau's declining health when they saw him in public. He was having difficulty walking and his usually-firm handshakes and hugs didn't have their same strength.

Still, his death came as a major shock.

"It's just terrible," said Ari Abel, who is about Beau's age and has known him since childhood. "The whole time I knew him, he was just a decent, nice guy. He never had a bad thing to say about anyone."

Abel and his father, Rob, are both optometrists, and have known the Biden family for years.

"I think Delaware is an anomaly. We're so close to everyone, including our politicians," Rob Abel said. "It's a remarkable family."

Even residents who didn't know Biden personally said they were sad to hear the news yesterday.

"Even if you don't agree with their politics, that family is obviously so important to Delaware," said Jason Dobrzynski, of Wilmington. "And it's just tragic that that would happen to someone that young, no matter who they are."

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, 324-2428, or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright. Contact James Fisher at jfisher@delawareonline.com or follow him on Twitter at @JamesFisherTNJ.