Obituaries

Former Bears coach Mike Ditka, who also was 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 3:53 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 – Catherine O’Hara poses for photographers upon arrival at the UK premiere of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Catherine O’Hara died from a pulmonary embolism. Cancer was the underlying cause.

By Andrew Dalton

February 9, 2026 at 4:20 p.m.

Catherine O’Hara died from a pulmonary embolism, with cancer as the underlying cause.

Astronomer Donald G. York stands next to an architectural model of the Apache Point Observatory. York helped build the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico and led the construction of a modular telescope there that enabled researchers to use it remotely from any location in the world. (Richard Dreiser/University of Chicago Library)

Donald York, University of Chicago astronomer who co-founded the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, dies at 81

By Bob Goldsborough

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

York was the first researcher to find an isotope of hydrogen known as deuterium, which...

Washington quarterback Sonny Jurgensen looks to pass against the New York Giants during a 1974 game. (AP)

Sonny Jurgensen, the colorful Hall of Fame QB who was beloved in Washington, dies at 91

By Barry Wilner

February 6, 2026 at 1:35 p.m.

Sonny Jurgensen’s four-plus decades of association with the Washington NFL franchise as a QB and...

Lake Forest resident Robert Joor former Waukegan HS boys basketball coach and standout college player, dies at 95

By Bob Goldsborough

February 5, 2026 at 5:06 p.m.

Robert Joor was a standout basketball player during high school in Chicago and later at...

Brenda Langstraat Bui in an undated photo. (Chicago Public Library Foundation)

Chicago Public Library Foundation president Brenda Langstraat Bui dies at 52

By Darcel Rockett

February 9, 2026 at 9:39 a.m.

As leader of the nonprofit devoted to fundraising for the Chicago Public Library, she put...

Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg, right, takes the stage after being introduced by former Rep. Lee Hamilton at the Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., Tuesday, June 11, 2019.

Former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, leader of Sept. 11 panel, dies

By Isabella Volmert

February 4, 2026 at 2:50 p.m.

Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, a crewcut-wearing Indiana Democrat who was a leading foreign affairs voice...

Tigers catcher Bill Freehan lifts pitcher Mickey Lolich off his feet as he screams with joy after defeating the Cardinals 4-1 in Game 7 of the World Series on Oct. 10, 1968, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. (AP)

Mickey Lolich, a 200-game winner and the 1968 World Series MVP for the Detroit Tigers, dies at 85

By Ed White

February 4, 2026 at 3:23 p.m.

Mickey Lolich had three complete-game victories for the Detroit Tigers in the 1968 World Series,...

Rockabilly musician Hayden Thompson. (Family photo)

Hayden Thompson, a Chicago-area rockabilly musician who found success in Europe, dies at 87

By Bob Goldsborough

February 2, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Although he and bandmates recorded at the famed Sun Studios in Memphis and he played...

FILE – Actor Demond Wilson participates in a CBS “Face the Nation” discussion on school prayer on May 5, 1984, in Washington. (AP Photo, file)

Demond Wilson, who played Lamont on ‘Sanford and Son,’ dies at 79

By Associated Press

February 1, 2026 at 10:39 a.m.

Demond Wilson, who found fame in the 1970s playing Lamont on “Sanford and Son” and...

Journalist Basil Talbott Jr. (Talbott family)

Basil Talbott Jr., Sun-Times political editor and longtime columnist, dies at 89

By Bob Goldsborough

January 30, 2026 at 6:27 p.m.

During his years in Chicago and Washington, D.C., Talbott covered the civil rights movement, the...

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