DANIEL DION, the older brother of pop singer Celine Dion, died Saturday, just two days after the death of the entertainer’s husband, Rene Angelil.

    Celine Dion’s representative Kim Jakwerth released a statement that Daniel Dion, 59, died Saturday surrounded by his family after battling cancer for several years. The statement said he died at a palliative care center in Terrebonne, Quebec, outside Montreal.

    The family is “remembering a gentle and reserved man of many talents,” the statement said.

    The announcement followed the death Thursday of the 73-year-old Angelil in suburban Las Vegas after a long ballet with throat cancer. Angelil was Celine Dion’s manager for decades.

    Angelil, the entertainment maestro, discovered Dion’s singing when she was 12 years old.

    He then guided Dion as a manager and mentor to superstardom. Dion is best known for the smash hit “My Heart Will Go On,” the theme from “Titanic.”

    The couple, who were 26 years apart in age, married in an elaborate ceremony in 1994 in Montreal that drew throngs of well-wishers. Angelil and Dion have three children.

    Angelil had been battling three bouts of cancer since initially undergoing surgery in April 1999.

    Daniel Dion, the father of two daughters, was the eighth of 14 Dion children. The Dion siblings, including Celine, performed at their parents’ small piano bar called Le Vieux Baril (The Old Barrel) in the town of Charlemagne, Quebec.

    Viewing will take place Saturday, a day after Angelil’s funeral is set to take place at Montreal’s Notre Dame Basilica, the same church where he married the singer in 1994.

    Daniel Dion’s religious funeral will be held several days later at a church in the family’s hometown of Charlemagne.

    (SD-Agencies)