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.

Ric Ocasek, The Cars frontman whose deadpan vocal delivery and lanky, sunglassed look defined a rock era with chart-topping hits like “Just What I Needed,” was discovered dead Sunday afternoon in his Manhattan apartment.

A publicist for Eddie Money says the rock star has died after he recently announced he had stage 4 esophageal cancer.  He was 70.

Marca Bristo died from cancer Sunday morning, according to Chicago’s Access Living, the organization she founded in 1980. She was 66 years old.

Al Haynes was hailed for his skill when a jet lost all hydraulic power after the rear engine exploded during a flight from Denver to Chicago on July 19, 1989. Haynes saved nearly 200 lives by guiding the damaged jet into a crash landing in Iowa. Haynes, 87, died Sunday.

Publisher Alfred A. Knopf says Nobel laureate Toni Morrison died Monday night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. She was 88.

Dr. Carl Bell, who grew up on Chicago’s South Side, was a national leader in treating childhood trauma resulting from violence. 

John Paul Stevens, the bow-tied, independent-thinking, Republican-nominated justice who unexpectedly emerged as the Supreme Court’s leading liberal, died Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after suffering a stroke Monday.

He was fun. He was smart. And he was the best journalist many of us have ever known. John Callaway, the founder of “Chicago Tonight,” died 10 years ago this weekend. We remember the man and his legacy.

Stanley Tigerman was as famous for his personality as he was for his buildings, private homes and public buildings that showed post-modernism’s tendency for humor, irreverence and invention. 

Tim Conway, the stellar second banana to Carol Burnett who won four Emmy Awards on her TV variety show, has died, according to his publicist. He was 85.

The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed Doris Day died early Monday at her Carmel Valley, California, home. She was 97.