The pop punk icon passed away “peacefully” after a courageous battle with brain cancer
Chad Gilbert, the founding guitarist, songwriter and creative force behind pop-punk veterans New Found Glory, died on September 20, 2026, at the age of 45 following a nearly five-year battle with an aggressive form of cancer. Gilbert’s death was announced in a joint statement from his wife, Lisa Cimorelli, and New Found Glory, who revealed that he died peacefully in his sleep with loved ones around him. “On the morning of September 20th, Chad Everett Gilbert passed away peacefully in his sleep,” the statement said. “He left this world surrounded by friends and family and took his final breaths with his wife and mother by his side, just as he wished.” His family and bandmates said they were “devastated and shocked by how quickly he left us,” while taking comfort in the peaceful circumstances of his death. Gilbert is survived by Cimorelli, their daughter Lily, his mother Jackie and his brother Brian.
“On the morning of September 20th, Chad Everett Gilbert passed away peacefully in his sleep. He left this world surrounded by friends and family and took his final breaths with his wife and mother by his side, just as he wished. We are devastated and shocked by how quickly he left us, yet so grateful for how peacefully and smoothly he went. The amount of visitors that crowded the hospital lobby at a moment’s notice is a testament to how beloved and cherished Chad was, and always will be. He was a legendary musician, but his favorite accomplishment was being a husband and father. His biggest dreams came true. He is survived by his wife, Lisa, his daughter, Lily, his mother, Jackie, and his brother, Brian.
Chad’s guitar playing, songwriting, humor, and relentless drive helped shape New Found Glory for nearly three decades. Through more than a dozen albums, endless tours around the world, and more accolades than we ever could have imagined, Chad challenged all of us to grow as musicians, performers, and human beings. While we are devastated to lose him, we are so grateful for the incredible life he lived, the memories we shared, and the brotherhood we had. His influence will always be part of New Found Glory and his spirit will be felt on every stage we stand on, with every note we play.
Rest in peace, Chad. We love you forever.”
Gilbert’s health battle began publicly in December 2021, when a frightening medical emergency led doctors to discover a massive tumor involving his adrenal gland and liver. On December 5, his wife found him unresponsive in bed and performed CPR while waiting for paramedics. His blood sugar had fallen to a dangerously low level while his blood pressure had risen dramatically. Doctors eventually diagnosed him with pheochromocytoma, a rare tumor associated with the adrenal glands. Gilbert’s tumor was malignant and extraordinarily large—approximately eight inches—and had grown into part of his liver. On December 13, 2021, surgeons performed a major operation to remove the tumor along with the affected portion of his liver. The procedure was successful, and by late January 2022 Gilbert was told that follow-up testing showed no detectable cancer. At the time, he celebrated being cancer-free, telling Forbes, “I got the good news. I’m all clear. I’ve got nothing in my body. No pheochromocytoma left. All the cancer is gone.”
Unfortunately, the relief was short-lived. In 2022, doctors discovered that cancer was present in Gilbert’s spine, including his T-12 vertebra. Plans were initially made to treat the remaining disease with radiation, but the tumor suddenly became aggressive, causing severe hip pain that left Gilbert unable to sit for more than a few minutes or sleep normally. In September 2022, he underwent another major operation, this one lasting approximately six hours. Surgeons removed the remaining tumor along with the rest of the affected T-12 vertebra, which Gilbert said was replaced with an artificial vertebra. He subsequently underwent radiation intended to destroy any microscopic cancer cells that might remain. Despite the seriousness of the procedure, Gilbert again approached the situation with characteristic optimism, announcing afterward that “the cancer in my spine is gone.”
Cancer nevertheless became an ongoing part of Gilbert’s life. The disease eventually appeared in other areas, including his lungs, and he underwent a combination of surgeries, radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy while continuing to write, record and perform whenever his health allowed. In August 2025, Gilbert revealed that doctors had discovered another small cancerous spot in his back and that he was undergoing another course of radiation while New Found Glory toured with The Offspring. He described the treatment as physically exhausting, saying that after conserving his energy to perform, it could be difficult to walk the following day. Still, he continued touring and publicly documenting his experience, writing that although cancer was frightening, the ordeal had also changed his perspective on gratitude and life.
The most serious turn came in February 2026. While performing at New Found Glory’s Listen Up! album-release show in Nashville on February 20, Gilbert began having difficulty controlling his left hand. His left leg progressively weakened as well, and he began stumbling and falling. A CT scan on February 23 revealed three tumors in his brain, including one later described as roughly the size of a walnut and pressing against the right rear portion of his brain, explaining the loss of function on the left side of his body. Gilbert underwent emergency brain surgery on February 27 and reported that control of his left hand returned almost immediately afterward. Radiation was then used against tumors that could not be surgically removed. His doctors also revised their understanding of his disease, identifying it as stage-four adrenocortical carcinoma, or ACC—an aggressive cancer originating in the outer portion of the adrenal gland—rather than the metastatic pheochromocytoma that had been diagnosed earlier in his treatment.
Gilbert’s wife explained that the treatments controlling cancer elsewhere in his body had not effectively crossed the blood-brain barrier, allowing tumors to develop in his brain even while disease elsewhere had responded to treatment. Gilbert nevertheless remained determined to play again. After months of recovery and rehabilitation, he returned to the stage with New Found Glory at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater on June 15, performing from a wheelchair. The appearance was especially meaningful because his daughter was able to watch him perform. “I got to play a show in front of my daughter, something I never thought I’d get to do again,” he later said. His determination to continue making music became inseparable from New Found Glory’s later years, particularly Listen Up!, an album created while Gilbert was moving between recording sessions, hospital visits, scans and cancer treatments.
His condition remained difficult through the summer. Gilbert underwent 10 rounds of chemotherapy, with plans to continue attacking the remaining cancer through immunotherapy. In late August and early September, he revealed another frightening complication after becoming unable to breathe normally. He went to the emergency room and spent five days hospitalized as doctors drained approximately 4.5 liters of fluid from around his lungs, using a needle inserted between his ribs. Even after that ordeal, he told followers that he was working to rebuild his strength. It would prove to be one of his final public health updates before his death on September 20.
Long before cancer became part of his story, however, Gilbert had established himself as one of the defining guitarists and songwriters of modern pop-punk. Born March 9, 1981, he first gained attention in the Florida hardcore scene as the teenage vocalist for Shai Hulud, appearing during the era surrounding the influential band’s 1997 debut, Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion. Gilbert then became a founding member of New Found Glory in Coral Springs, Florida, in 1997 alongside Jordan Pundik, Ian Grushka and the band’s early lineup. Combining the speed and energy of punk and hardcore with huge melodic choruses, New Found Glory emerged from the late-1990s underground and became one of the central bands in the explosion of pop-punk that followed. Gilbert’s chunky, instantly recognizable guitar riffs, backing vocals and songwriting became fundamental components of the band’s identity.
New Found Glory’s self-titled 2000 album helped expand the band’s audience with songs including “Hit or Miss,” but 2002’s Sticks and Stones turned them into one of pop-punk’s biggest acts. Led by “My Friends Over You,” the album reached No. 4 on the U.S. album chart, while 2004’s Catalyst climbed even higher, reaching the Top Three. Gilbert remained at the center of the band through subsequent albums including Coming Home, Not Without a Fight, Radiosurgery, Resurrection, Makes Me Sick and Forever + Ever x Infinity. After New Found Glory became a four-piece in 2013, Gilbert took on the responsibility of handling the band’s guitar work without adding another permanent guitarist, further emphasizing how important his playing had become to the group’s sound. New Found Glory endured long after many of its early-2000s contemporaries faded or disbanded, maintaining a devoted international following through relentless touring and a remarkably consistent recording career.
Gilbert’s musical influence also extended well beyond New Found Glory. He returned to Shai Hulud years after his original tenure and performed on the band’s 2013 album Reach Beyond the Sun. He fronted New Found Glory’s hardcore alter ego International Superheroes of Hardcore under the name Captain Straight Edge and released solo material under the name What’s Eating Gilbert. Perhaps most significantly, Gilbert became an accomplished producer, helping shape records by bands influenced by the very pop-punk and hardcore movement he had helped establish. His production credits included A Day to Remember’s Homesick, What Separates Me from You and Common Courtesy, as well as H2O’s Nothing to Prove and Use Your Voice and State Champs’ debut album The Finer Things. His work behind the scenes helped connect New Found Glory’s generation to the wave of pop-punk, easycore and melodic hardcore bands that followed.
Remarkably, Gilbert continued contributing to New Found Glory while undergoing increasingly difficult cancer treatment. The experience directly informed 2023’s largely acoustic Make the Most of It, and his health battle became an even more prominent backdrop to Listen Up!, released in February 2026. Gilbert recalled recording parts of the album between treatments, scans and hospital visits, sometimes entering the studio while dealing with dangerously high blood pressure and fluid accumulation associated with his illness. The album’s themes of appreciating life and finding meaning amid adversity reflected what Gilbert himself had been experiencing. Even after brain surgery temporarily took him away from his instrument, he told People that he continued composing music mentally: “I can’t stop writing like songs in my head. I just keep writing.”
For nearly three decades, Gilbert helped transform New Found Glory from a group of young Florida musicians into one of the most enduring bands associated with modern pop-punk. His bandmates emphasized that contribution in announcing his death, writing that his “guitar playing, songwriting, humor, and relentless drive helped shape New Found Glory for nearly three decades.” They noted that the band had made more than a dozen albums and toured the world together, adding that Gilbert continually pushed them to grow as musicians, performers and people. “His influence will always be part of New Found Glory and his spirit will be felt on every stage we stand on, with every note we play,” they said.
Yet for all of the records, tours and influence Gilbert accumulated, he repeatedly said that music was not the achievement that mattered most to him near the end of his life. Speaking about Lisa and their daughter Lily earlier in 2026, Gilbert reflected that he had achieved the two things he had wanted most: a life in music and a family. “I got my dream,” he said. “I always wanted to play music, and I got that, but my biggest dream was to be married to a beautiful wife that would love me and have a daughter.” The statement announcing his death echoed that sentiment, describing Gilbert as a legendary musician while noting that his favorite accomplishment was being a husband and father. His death at just 45 ended a life that had become synonymous not only with the rise and longevity of New Found Glory, but with the resilience that increasingly defined the band’s music during his final years.