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John Berry, a founding member of the Beastie Boys who left the group before it found major label success, has died at 52, Associated Press reports.

According to the source, Berry died on May 19 mornings at a hospice in Danvers, Mass., following a long battle with from frontal lobe dementia, according to his stepmother, Louise Berry.

 He had been in declining health and spent the last three to four years in medical facilities, she said. Frontal lobe dementia dementia is a progressive disease that has no cure, according to the Mayo Clinic, the source details

His father, John Berry III, says Berry helped found the Beastie Boys in the early 1980s after meeting future bandmate Mike Diamond at the Walden School in New York. Berry III says the band used his Manhattan loft for their first practices and shows. Berry left the group after playing guitar on its first EP. His father says the band was becoming more professional and Berry "wasn't up for that rigor."