Michael McCaskey, who led the Chicago Bears for nearly three decades following the death of his grandfather George Halas, died Saturday after a lengthy battle with cancer, the team said. He was 76.

The death of Greg Zanis, announced by his daughter, Susie Zanis, and confirmed by the mayor of the community where Zanis lived, was expected after a recent announcement that he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and did not have long to live.

The burly actor who started in films as a macho heavy and later in his career won plaudits for his stage work in plays by William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller, died last week at age 81.

John Prine, the ingenious singer-songwriter who explored the heartbreaks, indignities and absurdities of everyday life in “Angel from Montgomery,” “Sam Stone,” “Hello in There” and scores of other indelible tunes, died Tuesday at the age of 73. 

Ed Farmer rooted for the White Sox growing up on Chicago’s South Side and went on to become an All-Star reliever for them.

Officer Marco DiFranco, 50, has died of the novel coronavirus, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and interim Police Superintendent Charlie Beck announced Thursday.

Lee Phillip Bell, who co-created “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful” and hosted her own daytime talk show in Chicago for 33 years, has died. She was 91.

Marvin Goldsmith, who served for decades on the board of WWCI, the parent organization of WTTW and WFMT, died Thursday. He was 84 years old.

Kobe Bryant inspired a generation of basketball players worldwide with sublime skills and an unquenchable competitive fire.

Jim Lehrer’s longtime colleague and current “NewsHour” anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff announced the news in a release, saying Lehrer died peacefully in his sleep at home.

A federal agent who was at a Chicago airport to search a private plane that rapper Juice WRLD and his entourage had arrived in administered the opioid antidote Narcan to the performer, who briefly woke up incoherent but later died, authorities said Monday.

Caroll Spinney, who gave Big Bird his warmth and Oscar the Grouch his growl for nearly 50 years on “Sesame Street,” died Sunday at the age of 85 at his home in Connecticut, according to the Sesame Workshop.

Rapper Juice WRLD, who launched his career on SoundCloud before becoming a streaming juggernaut and rose to the top of the charts with the Sting-sampled hit “Lucid Dreams,” died early Sunday after a “medical emergency” at Chicago’s Midway International Airport.

Jessye Norman, the renowned international opera star whose passionate soprano voice won her four Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honor, has died, according to family spokesperson Gwendolyn Quinn. She was 74.

Although proficient on a number of instruments including guitar, violin, cello and trumpet, Robert Hunter, whose songs included such classics as “Truckin’” and ‘‘Uncle John’s Band,” never appeared on stage with the Grateful Dead.

Cokie Roberts, the daughter of politicians who grew up to cover the family business in Washington for ABC News and NPR over several decades, died Tuesday in Washington of complications from breast cancer. She was 75.