San Francisco community saddened by passing of Grateful Dead’s founding member Bob Weir

By Amanda Hari

The San Francisco Grateful Dead community is coming together after it was announced that one of the founding members, Bob Weir, has died at the age of 78. 

One gathering place was the Grateful Dead house on the 700 block of Ashbury. It’s a private residence, but served as a makeshift memorial with hundreds of Deadheads stopping by all evening to remember Weir.

Fan Kelly Terzis described her feelings as intense sadness and grief, but also gratitude.

“Bob Weir was one of my best friends,” Terzis stated. “I’ve never felt alone a day in my life since I found the Grateful Dead.”

Terzis has been a fan for more than half of her life, attending more than 200 concerts over 20 years.

The band and their music shaped who she is today.

“I was telling my friend that the Grateful Dead was the first time I ever fell in love and ever since that day, my life has been nothing but filled with love,” said Terzis. 

Fans left notes, flowers, and grieved together. 

Adam Buxbaum says Weir’s music was always a part of his life.

“My mom told me when I was two at the Oakland Coliseum New Years eve shows, I crawled on top of a speaker and fell asleep,” said Buxbaum. “This is the end of a huge chapter of a lot of people’s lives.”

He started going to Dead concerts with his parents as a kid. As an adult, he followed Dead and Company, a spinoff of the Grateful Dead featuring Weir.

He even sold pins at concerts, once giving one to Weir.

“It felt like in some ways Bobby was one of the community, just along for the ride with everyone else,” said Buxbaum. “It was a brief, nice encounter. He shook my hand.”

San Francisco-based musician Lebo also met Weir a few times, even playing with him on stage at the Fillmore in 2019

Lebo grew up listening to the Grateful Dead and admiring Weir. He says playing with him was a dream come true.

“He was such a warm spirit, and his artistry was huge,” said Lebo. “He was tapped into the source.”

The news of his passing was hard on everyone who had been touched by his life, but all can agree, his memory will never die, living  on through his music.

“We’re just going to keep going,” said Terzis. “We’re going to keep listening to the music. We’re going to keep playing the music and most importantly, we’re going to keep living the music.”

Weir toured for about 60 years. Dead and Company was just in San Francisco in August, playing a series of concerts in Golden Gate Park.