His father said he had been suffering from frontal lobe dementia, which had worsened in recent months.
John Berry originally formed the Beastie Boys as a hardcore punk band with three friends in 1981 and came up with the name for the group.
He played guitar on their first EP, Polly Wog Stew, but left before they achieved commercial success.
Berry attended the Walden School in New York with fellow band member Mike Diamond, known as Mike D.
The pair were later joined by Adam Yauch and Kate Schellenbach and released their debut EP in 1982.
When Berry left the group, he was replaced by Adam Horovitz, known as Ad-Rock, and the band took a new direction as a rap group.
Schellenback also left the group before the release of their 1986 album Licence To Ill, which debuted at number one in the US.
The group became a huge commercial success, recording a total of eight studio albums over 25 years, which collectively sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.
Four of them reached number one in the US, while their 1998 album Hello Nasty topped the album chart in the UK.
Their best-known hits include (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!), Intergalactic, and Ch-Check It Out.
Seven of their albums achieved platinum sales status and the band toured with Madonna in 1985.
Beastie Boys remained a three-piece until Adam Yauch's death from cancer in 2012.
In the same year, Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Billboard declared them the biggest selling rap group since the magazine began recording data in 1991.
Horovitz read a speech written by Yauch at the ceremony, which mentioned Berry as a formative member of the band's early years.
Frontal lobe dementia is a form of dementia that occurs when the frontal lobes of the brain begin to shrink.
It is an uncommon form of dementia and is thought to affect about 16,000 people in the UK.
Frontal lobe dementia is distinct from Alzheimer's disease and comes on earlier in life, usually between the ages of 45 and 65.
Symptoms include problems with behaviour, language and thinking.
The frontal lobes of the brain are involved in behaviour regulation. The disease can alter a person's character - they may become impulsive and lose their inhibitions or become less outgoing and socially isolated.
Source: Alzheimer's Society and NHS Choices
Mike D later confirmed that he and Ad-Rock would not continue with Beastie Boys, out of respect for Yauch.
After he left the band, Berry went on to play guitar in several other bands - including Even Worse, Big Fat Love, Highway Stars and Bourbon Deluxe.

They were accused of trying to trick a 20-year-old woman from Slovakia into having an abortion and arranging her marriage to a man facing deportation.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) says new evidence had emerged "which seriously undermined the prosecution".
Last November, 13 people were arrested in Greater Manchester but none will face further action.
A CPS spokeswoman said four men and a woman were initially charged with immigration offences and "intentionally arranging or facilitating entry into the UK of a person with a view to their exploitation".
She added: "The CPS concluded that there is no longer sufficient evidence to generate a realistic prospect of conviction, therefore on 1 April 2015 the CPS formally offered no evidence in the case against all five defendants."
Charges have been dropped against Mohammed Ali, 40, and Hateji Yakuyb, 57, both of Ashfield Road, Rochdale; Anna Cicakova, 34, and Malik Ramzan, 27, both of Wesley Street, Failsworth; and Rehman Ghani, 39, of St Heliers Drive, Cheetham Hill.
John Berry, a founding member of rap group Beastie Boys has died at the age of 52.
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Charges have been dropped against five people who were accused of trafficking a pregnant woman into the UK.