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 Bears football more than Mike Ditka, who became the face of the franchise...

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...

Publicist Margie Korshak and “Jersey Boys” co-creator Rick Elice at what was then the LaSalle Bank Theatre, where the musical's Chicago production opened on Oct. 14, 2007. (BIC)

Margie Korshak, silver-haired publicist and Chicago’s connection to the stars, dies at 86

By Chris Jones

March 2, 2025 at 4:32 p.m.

Days before her death, she was honored with a birthday luncheon where she spoke of...

FILE – Buster Poindexter is seen at the Grammy Awards in New York’s Radio City Music Hall, March 2, 1988. (AP Photo, File)

David Johansen, singer from the seminal punk band the New York Dolls, dies at 75

By Mark Kennedy

March 1, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.

David Johansen, the wiry, gravelly-voiced singer and last surviving member of the glam and protopunk...

FILE – Angie Stone poses as she walks down the red carpet during the 2009 Soul Train Awards taping at the Georgia World Congress Center, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith, File)

Grammy-nominated R&B singer Angie Stone dies in car crash

By Associated Press

March 1, 2025 at 3:47 p.m.

Grammy-nominated R&B singer Angie Stone, a member of the all-female hip-hop trio The Sequence and...

Douglas Peterson, of Elmhurst, a successful entrepreneur who helped found the Green Man Theatre Group and the Elmhurst Center for the Performing Arts, died Feb. 14. (Julie Peterson)

Douglas Peterson remembered as entrepreneur, proponent of arts in Elmhurst

By Graydon Megan

February 28, 2025 at 4:17 p.m.

Douglas Peterson, who died in February, helped found the Green Man Theatre Group and the...

Manhattan Weather Channel founder Dan Casper with his dog, Haley. (Laura Adrieansen)

Dan Casper remembered as devoted, community focused Manhattan weather forecaster

By Samantha Moilanen

February 28, 2025 at 3:13 p.m.

Funeral services will be held Sunday for Dan Casper, founder of the Manhattan Weather Channel,...

Theologian and church historian, the Rev. Martin E. Marty, talks after Sunday morning services at his church, Ascension Lutheran Church in Riverside, circa 1998. (Chuck Berman/baiduhai)

Martin Marty, influential theologian whose prodigious output helped shape 20th century Christian thought, dies at 97

By Bob Goldsborough

February 27, 2025 at 2:26 p.m.

Martin E. Marty, an ordained Lutheran pastor, seminary professor and highly influential voice on religion,...

FILE – Actor Gene Hackman with wife Betsy Arakawa in June 1993. (AP Photo, File)

Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog were dead for some time, warrant shows

By Brian Melley

February 27, 2025 at 5:57 p.m.

Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, his wife and one of their dogs were apparently dead for some...

FILE – In this 1993 file photo, actor Gene Hackman is seen. (AP Photo/File)

Actor Gene Hackman, raised in Danville, found dead at home along with his wife

By Hillel Italie

February 27, 2025 at 10:59 a.m.

Gene Hackman, the prolific Oscar-winning actor whose studied portraits ranged from reluctant heroes to conniving...

FILE - Michelle Trachtenberg appears at the Critics' Choice Television Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 19, 2014 (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

Michelle Trachtenberg, star of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Harriet the Spy,’ dies at at 39

By Mark Kennedy

February 26, 2025 at 3:15 p.m.

Michelle Trachtenberg, a former child star who appeared in the 1996 “Harriet the Spy” hit...

University of Chicago Professor Allen Sanderson. (University of Chicago)

Allen Sanderson, U. of C. economics professor who was skeptical of public subsidies for sports stadiums, dies at 81

By Bob Goldsborough

February 26, 2025 at 11:40 a.m.

Allen Sanderson, a University of Chicago economics professor who built a national reputation for his...

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