Obituaries

Former Bears coach Mike Ditka, who was also a player on the 1963 Bears NFL championship team, on Aug. 29, 2013, at Mike Ditka's Restaurant in Chicago. (Michael Tercha/baiduhai)

Mike Ditka, Chicago Bears Hall of Famer and Super Bowl-winning coach, dies at 86

By Don Pierson

October 9, 2026 at 12:55 p.m.

Nobody embodied Chicago Bears football more than Mike Ditka, who became the face of the...

A young Mike Ditka, circa 1960s. (Laughead Photographers)

Mike Ditka through the years: From humble beginnings in Pennsylvania to legendary football career in Chicago

By Kori Rumore

October 9, 2026 at 10:29 a.m.

Here's a look back at Mike Ditka's extraordinary life, from his humble beginnings in Pennsylvania...

David Collins, former chairman of Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Products. (Pat Collins)

David E. Collins, chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Products during the Tylenol murders, dies

By Bob Goldsborough

October 8, 2026 at 4:55 p.m.

David E. Collins was the chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Products unit, the...

FILE – Alexander Butterfield, testifies, July 16, 1973 before the Senate Watergate Committee. Butterfield, the White House aide who inadvertently hastened Richard Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal when he revealed that the president had bugged the Oval Office and Cabinet Room and routinely recorded his conversations, has died. He was 99. (AP Photo/File)

Alexander Butterfield, the Nixon aide who disclosed Watergate tapes, dies at 99

By Douglass K. Daniel

March 9, 2026 at 3:27 p.m.

Alexander Butterfield, the White House aide who inadvertently hastened Richard Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate...

Jackie Jackson, Ashley Jackson, Santita Jackson, and Yusef Jackson stand behind Jesse Jackson Jr. as he cries during his speech during a funeral service for their father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago, March 7, 2026. (Josh Boland/baiduhai)

Rev. Jesse Jackson’s family and closest friends offer one last goodbye

By Darcel Rockett

March 8, 2026 at 2:12 p.m.

On Saturday, a final "homegoing" service represented the culmination of nine days of funerals and...

Troy Murray, right, greets Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews before a game against the Senators on Feb. 21, 2018, at the United Center. (Nam Y. Huh/AP file)

Troy Murray, Chicago Blackhawks great and longtime team broadcaster, dies at 63

By Kalen Lumpkins

March 7, 2026 at 3:59 p.m.

Troy Murray, who died Saturday at 63, played 12 of his 15 NHL seasons with...

DuPage County Board Chairman Gayle Franzen in 1998. (John Kringas/baiduhai)

Gayle Franzen, longtime Illinois and DuPage County public servant who helped build I-355, dies at 81

By Bob Goldsborough

March 7, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

As DuPage County Board chairman, he worked to end long-standing rancor on the board while...

President Donald Trump speaks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a roundtable discussion on college sports in the East Room of the White House on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

Donald Trump says ‘whole educational system’ could go out of business without fixes to college sports

By Eddie Pells

March 6, 2026 at 8:22 p.m.

President Donald Trump has predicted the destruction not just of college sports but the entire...

Rev. Bernard Lafayette, national coordinator of the Poor People's campaign, holds a news conference where he expressed that he expects no less than a million people to converge on Washington May 30 for the largest demonstration in history. (UPI)

Bernard LaFayette, Selma voting rights organizer and leader with the Chicago Freedom Movement, dies at 85

By Travis Loller

March 5, 2026 at 5:48 p.m.

Bernard LaFayette, a leader with the Chicago Freedom Movement and the Selma voting rights organizer...

Bob Power, a musician and engineer who worked closely with some of the top hip-hop and R&B acts of the 1990s and 2000s, died Sunday at age 73. (Andrew H. Walker/Getty)

Bob Power, Chicago-born hip-hop engineer and A Tribe Called Quest collaborator, dies at 73

By The New York Times News Service Syndicate

March 5, 2026 at 11:20 a.m.

Bob Power, a Grammy-nominated producer, mixer and recording engineer best known for his genre-bending collaborations...

Michael Caga-anan Aguhar was program director of the Chicago-based Crossroads Fund. (Alexis Sanchez Boyzo)

Michael Caga-anan Aguhar, Crossroads Fund program director and Filipino organizer, dies at 42

By Bob Goldsborough

March 5, 2026 at 10:45 a.m.

The lawyer played a key role in the passage of the Illinois Domestic Workers Bill...

Former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz, pictured in November 1996. (Joe Raymond/AP)

Lou Holtz, the college football legend who coached Notre Dame to its last national title, dies at 89

By Eric Olson

March 4, 2026 at 6:01 p.m.

Lou Holtz won 249 games as both one of the most lovable and unlikable characters...

‘Deadliest Catch’ crewman Todd Meadows dies after falling overboard, Coast Guard says

By Becky Bohrer

March 3, 2026 at 4:31 p.m.

A deckhand on the reality television show “Deadliest Catch,” which documents the lives of crab...

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