She died in a 1972 car crash with their one-year-old daughter, Naomi; their two sons, Beau and Hunter, were injured but survived the incident.

[4] After Biden graduated from law school, the couple moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where he was on the New Castle County Council.

[4] On December 18, 1972, shortly after Joe became U.S. senator-elect, Neilia was driving with her three children west along rural Valley Road in Hockessin, Delaware.

[10][11] The truck driver, identified as Curtis C. Dunn, 47, of Avondale, Pennsylvania, escaped without any major injury, and died in 1999.

[15] In a commencement speech at Yale University in 2015, Joe Biden, then serving as Vice President of the United States in the administration led by Barack Obama, spoke of his wife, saying, "The incredible bond I have with my children is the gift I'm not sure I would have had, had I not been through what I went through [after the fatal crash].

"[16] Dedicated in her memory, Neilia Hunter Biden Park is in a suburban area of unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware.