Beastie Boys co-founder John Berry dies at 52

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Founding Beastie Boys member John Berry has died at the age of 52.

His stepmother, Louise Berry, tells The Associated Press that Berry died Thursday morning at a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts. She says Berry suffered from frontal lobe dementia and had been in declining health for several years.

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. Rolling Stone reports that Berry came up with the name of the band.

Berry III says the band used his Manhattan loft for their first practices and shows. He played guitar on the Beastie Boys' first EP "Polly Wog Stew" in 1982.

Berry left the group shortly thereafter . His father says the band was becoming more professional and Berry "wasn't up for that rigor."

The family plans a public celebration of life in the fall.