Obama delivering Beau Biden eulogy Saturday
President Barack Obama will deliver a eulogy in honor of Beau Biden at a 10:30 a.m. Mass on Saturday at St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington, the last of several public memorial services planned this week.
A public viewing will be held for Biden at Legislative Hall on Thursday, allowing Delawareans statewide to pay respects to the former attorney general and the vice president's eldest son. Biden's body will lie in honor at the capitol building from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., according to the vice president's office. Previously scheduled sessions of the Delaware House and Senate are canceled.
On Friday, there will be a public viewing at St. Anthony of Padua between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., and 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
On behalf of the Biden family, Beau's widow Hallie has requested that in lieu of flowers, those wishing to make a contribution in memory of her husband do so to the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children at: www.beaubidenfoundation.org
The charity, which honors Biden's efforts to protect children from sexual predators, was announced Tuesday by Hallie and the Delaware Community Foundation.
The foundation aims to continue his "life passion: protecting the most vulnerable among us," according to a news release from Biden's former campaign political director, Josh Alcorn.
In his first year in office, Biden created a Child Predator Task Force to focus on catching and prosecuting those who commit sex offenses against minors. In an op-ed piece Biden wrote for The News Journal last year, he said the unit had convicted nearly 200 child sexual abusers and removed about 120 children from abusive situations.
Alcorn, who was working with Biden on a planned gubernatorial run in 2016, would not comment on the foundation, referring questions to Fred Sears, a close friend of the Biden family who runs the Community Foundation.
Sears said he reached out to the Bidens on Sunday and mentioned that he could help set up a charity in Biden's honor. Alcorn called him Sunday night and said they would like to "set up something to protect abused kids," Sears said. "This is all about the Bradley case."
Biden died Saturday night at 46 after a battle with brain cancer. He was diagnosed in August 2013, and doctors at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center removed a small lesion from his brain.
The surgery was followed by a normal course of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and his doctor gave Biden a clean bill of health in November 2013.
But Biden's cancer returned this spring and he sought aggressive treatment, checking into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in May.
Biden served for eight years as Delaware's attorney general, leaving a record as an advocate for children. He dramatically stepped up prosecution of sex crimes, and secured more than $180 million with financial institutions related to their activities around the financial crisis.
Biden left office in January 2015 pledging to seek the governor's office in 2016.
Contact Jonathan Starkey at (302) 983-6756, on Twitter @jwstarkey or at jstarkey@delawareonline.com. Contact senior investigative reporter Cris Barrish at (302) 324-2785, cbarrish@delawareonline.com, Facebook or Twitter @crisbarrish.
IF YOU GO
All of these services, honoring the life of Beau Biden, will be open to the public, according to the vice president's office:
On Thursday, Beau will lie in honor at Legislative Hall in Dover from 1-5 p.m.
On Friday, there will be two viewings at St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington, from 1-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m.
On Saturday at 10:30 a.m., there will be a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington. President Barack Obama will deliver the eulogy in honor of Beau Biden at this Mass.