Melissa Cohen

The family of Joe Biden comprises the parents, siblings, spouses, children, and descendants of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025, originating from a working-class Irish Catholic background in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Biden's parents were Joseph R. Biden Sr., who worked in various sales roles including used cars, and Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Finnegan Biden, a homemaker of Irish descent; he was their firstborn, followed by siblings Valerie Biden Owens, James Biden, and Francis W. Biden. Biden married Neilia Hunter in 1966, fathering sons Joseph "Beau" Biden III and Robert Hunter Biden, as well as daughter Naomi Christina Biden; on December 18, 1972, Neilia and 13-month-old Naomi died in a car crash near Hockessin, Delaware, when their vehicle collided with a tractor-trailer, while Beau and Hunter suffered critical injuries but survived after hospitalization. He wed Jill Tracy Jacobs, an educator, on June 17, 1977, after multiple proposals, and they had daughter Ashley Blazer Biden in 1981; Jill became stepmother to Beau and Hunter. The family experienced further loss when Beau Biden, who served as Delaware's attorney general from 2007 to 2015 and deployed to Iraq with the Army National Guard, died of glioblastoma brain cancer on May 30, 2015, at age 46. Hunter Biden's tenure on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings from 2014 to 2019, amid his father's role as vice president overseeing Ukraine policy, prompted investigations revealing payments exceeding $11 million to Biden family associates from foreign entities, raising questions of influence leveraging despite no direct charges against Joe Biden. Hunter faced federal convictions for tax evasion and illegal firearm possession tied to drug use, culminating in a broad pardon from his father on December 1, 2024, covering offenses from 2014 to 2024. In January 2025, as his term concluded, Biden issued preemptive pardons to brothers James and Francis, sister Valerie, and their spouses, shielding them from potential investigations into family business activities. Ashley Biden has pursued social work, earning degrees from Tulane and the University of Pennsylvania, and advocated for issues like trauma recovery and justice reform.