Chad Everett Gilbert, the founding guitarist and songwriter behind New Found Glory, died peacefully in his sleep on the morning of September 20 at 45. The band said he was with his wife, Lisa, and his mother, Jackie, at the end, and that his final moments unfolded exactly as he had wished.
That loss lands hardest now because Gilbert was not just a longtime member of New Found Glory; he helped build the band in Florida in 1997 with Jordan Pundik, Ian Grushka and Joe Marino, before Marino was later replaced by Cyrus Bolooki. From that start, the group went on to release more than a dozen albums and helped define a lane in pop-punk that still reaches listeners today.
Gilbert’s fingerprints were on some of the songs that carried the band forward, including My Friends Over You, Hit Or Miss and All Downhill From Here. He also fronted Shai Hulud, worked with International Superheroes of Hardcore and produced records for other punk and alternative acts, a second life in music that widened his reach well beyond one stage.
Even in grief, the band tried to hold two facts together that rarely sit easily side by side: they said they were devastated and shocked by how quickly he left them, yet also said he died peacefully and just as he wanted. That is the part that gives the news its weight. The ending was sudden for the people around him, but not, by their account, for Gilbert himself.
He is survived by Lisa, their daughter Lily, his mother Jackie and his brother Brian. New Found Glory has now shared the news publicly, but it has not said anything about a memorial or what comes next. For now, the unanswered question is not about his place in the band’s history. It is about how the people he leaves behind carry that history without him.
