Lt. Col. Mark Weber, who served as a top military officer and chronicled his fight with cancer in the inspirational book "Tell My Sons," died Thursday. He was 41.
The Minnesota native had served as a top aide to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq and was appointed as a military adviser to the Afghan Parliament before he was diagnosed with Stage IV intestinal cancer.
While fighting the disease, he began writing stories to his three sons; the work evolved into an inspirational book that has become a national bestseller.
Weber was in the news last summer when he and his son, Matt, then a Rosemount High School junior, sang the emotional "Tell My Father," a song from the Broadway musical “The Civil War” that recounts the message that a Union soldier dying on the field of battle wanted carried to his father.
And Weber was honored by many of the Army's top generals who came to Rosemount in August to present him with the military's Outstanding Volunteer Service and Legion of Merit awards.
Weber and I had talked twice in the past year, and after the Petraeus scandal, MinnPost ran a story about Weber's thoughts on the general.
He was scheduled to be featured on the cover of Parade Magazine this Sunday, Father's Day.