President Joe Biden paused his vacation in the Virgin Islands to address the nation just hours after the passing of a political mentor whom he had grown close to over the decades, former President Jimmy Carter.

“America and the world, in my view, lost a remarkable leader,” Biden said. “He was a statesman and humanitarian, and Jill and I lost a dear friend.”

Biden’s bond with the Carters was forged when he became the first sitting member of Congress to endorse him ahead of his successful 1976 run for president.

“There was an overwhelming reason for it: his character,” he said. “What I find extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, though, is that millions of people all over the world feel they lost a friend as well, even though they never met him. And that’s because Jimmy Carter lived a life measured not by words, but by his deeds.”

Biden said his relationship with Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, who died in 2023, deepened over the years. The elder couple consoled him after his son, Beau, died of brain cancer. Biden and first lady Jill returned the favor by supporting them when Carter faced his own cancer diagnosis and later, when Carter entered hospice care in February 2023.

“I’ll always cherish having seen Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter together; theirs is a love affair of the ages,” Biden said. “While we’ll miss them both dearly, we do take some solace, and their kids are saying, that they’re united once again.”

Biden said he had spoken to Carter’s children and would ensure that he was memorialized in Washington and other formalities that are common when presidents die.