Chicago In Memoriam: 53 notable Chicagoans who passed away in 2023

CHICAGO (CBS/AP) -- The people in this list excelled in a variety of industries and talents – sports, the arts, politics, business, print and broadcast journalism, education, activism, public service.

Some of the people you'll read about here spent only a few important years in Chicago, while others lived in Chicago their whole lives long. Some are household names, while you may not be familiar with others. But everyone we're honoring here left a mark that helped make Chicago the vibrant, wonderful city we know and love.

Here is a detailed look at 53 notable Chicagoans who passed away this year.

Jojo Baby, 51, artist and nightlife icon

Jojo Baby – an artist, drag performer, hairdresser, and fixture in Chicago's nightlife scene – died March 14, following a battle with cancer.

Jojo was born Joseph Arguellas, and grew up in the Logan Square neighborhood. Their mother, a onetime Chicago Playboy Club bunny, coined the pet name Jojo Baby – which became their stage name and eventually their legal name, according to numerous published reports.

Jojo's Facebook page described them as "one of the original club kids of Chicago."

"With a homemade Medusa headdress, [they] made [their] debut in the world of three-foot platform shoes, flamboyant costumes, and outlandish make-up," writer Vasia Rigou wrote in a 2017 profile for the website Rainbowed.

Jojo initially attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary with the goal of becoming a Franciscan monk, according to the Windy City Times. But a priest told them their personality was too theatrical and advised another path, so they dropped out, the publication reported.

Jojo left home at the age of 14 due to their father's homophobia, and moved into a space in Lakeview with other Club Kids, the Windy City Times reported.

The Chicago Reader reported in a 2010 profile that Jojo – looking older than their age – enrolled in beauty school while visiting house music clubs. At Kaboom in the West Loop, the Reader reported, they were advised by a bartender to capitalize on their resemblance to the actor and drag performer Divine.

The Windy City Times noted that Jojo Baby the performer came into being at the old River North nightclub Shelter. They became a mainstay at an assortment of nightclub events– including the Boom Boom Room at Red Dog in Wicker Park and later Green Dolphin Street on Ashland Avenue, and more recently including the Debonair Social Club – also in Wicker Park – and the "Queen!" LGBTQ+ party at Smartbar in Wrigleyville, the Windy City Times noted.

Jojo also created dolls that were displayed at their gallery at the Flatiron Building in Wicker Park, and later at a gallery on Chicago Avenue in Ukrainian Village, the Windy City Times reported. The 2010 profile in the Chicago Reader noted that the dolls had a distinctive style featuring "jointed skeletons, foam rubber muscles," and "teeth and hair from humans, coyote, sheep, and goats."

Jojo was mentored in their dollmaking skills by Greer Lankton, who was known for her fabricated dolls that were described by the National Gallery of Art as "sometimes grotesque, often glamorous." Jojo said Lankton taught them to build armature – the skeletal systems for the dolls.

Jojo told Rainbowed their dolls featured a "full chakra system," and what they called "good" voodoo, as well as oversized genitalia. 

They would sometimes attach dolls or puppets to their outfits.

Jojo was also a hairstylist for many years at Milios Hair Salon at Belmont and Sheffield avenues, and told 5Mag.net about doing Dennis Rodman's hair during the heyday of the 1990s-era Chicago Bulls.

In an interview with WBEZ last year, Jojo said of their aesthetic: "I'm constantly absorbing things from everywhere. I always said if you mixed Jim Henson, Clive Barker, and Boy George in a blender, you'd get a Jojo."

In 2010, Jojo was the subject of a documentary by Barker, "Clive Barker Presents Jojo Baby: Without the Mask."

Ted Beattie, 77, longtime Shedd Aquarium president

Ted Beattie, who spent 22 years at the helm at the Shedd Aquarium and is credited with transforming the institution, died Jan. 6.

Beattie was president and chief executive officer of the aquarium from 1994 until 2016.

Beattie received a bachelor's degree in journalism and an MBA in public relations from The Ohio State University in 1971 and 1972, respectively. He went on to serve a tour of duty in Vietnam with the U.S. Army, the Shedd said.

Beattie's first job in the zoo industry was at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, where he started one of the first dedicated marketing and communications departments, the Shedd said. Beattie also served in a leadership role with the Brookfield Zoo, and then served as executive director at the zoos in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Fort Worth, Texas.

In Knoxville, he took some of the zoo's influential founding supporters on a zoological trip to Africa.

Beattie joined the Shedd in 1994, and led the development of six permanent exhibits. He also led the second expansion in Shedd Aquarium history – with the $47 million Wild Reef in 2003, and the $79 million reimagining of the Abbott Oceanarium for marine mammals in 2009, the Shedd said.

Beattie believed in making the Shedd "the friendliest place in town," and made it the top-attended paid cultural institution, the Shedd said.

In 2001, Beattie was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy – developing a national strategy on issues such as marine resource stewardship, marine science support, and commerce and transportation, according to Ohio State.

"We take comfort in tangible reminders of Ted's influence across our building – echoes and fingerprints of his unshakable commitment to animal care, to conservation and science, our guests, and the next generation," current Shedd president and chief executive officer Bridget Coughlin said in a news release. 

Dick Biondi, 90, radio disc jockey

Dick Biondi, a disc jockey and a mainstay of the airwaves in Chicago and elsewhere around the country for nearly seven decades, died June 26.

A native of Endicott, New York, Biondi – later nicknamed the "Wild I-tralian" – worked early in his career for several stations in upstate New York, including WINR in Binghamton and WCBA in Corning, and notably WKBW in Buffalo. He also had stints early on at other radio stations in various parts of the country. 

Biondi joined WLS-AM Radio in Chicago in 1960. As he spun high-energy records by the likes of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard, Biondi's rock and roll show on WLS was heard by residents of nearly 40 states and parts of Canada, according to the Radio Hall of Fame.

Biond's 9 p.m.-to-midnight show grabbed a 56 percent share of the audience – almost triple the ratings of anyone before that.

In 1961, Biondi even recorded his own popular novelty record, "The Pizza Song" – better known as "On Top of a Pizza."  

In 1963 while at WLS, Biondi was credited with being the first American DJ to play The Beatles on the air. He played "Please Please Me" in February 1963 – about a year before Beatlemania took off in the U.S.

Biondi left WLS later in 1963 for KRLA in Los Angeles. He has talked about how while working in LA, he met the Beatles backstage at the Hollywood Bowl – along with Bob Eubanks and other radio disc jockeys.

Meanwhile, while playing The Beatles on the radio in Los Angeles – still before the takeoff of Beatlemania in the U.S. – Biondi said in a 2003 interview with Channel 11 that he got angry calls from listeners who demanded, "Get that crap off the air – put The Beach Boys on!"

While in LA in 1964, Biondi joined the Mutual Broadcasting System to host a syndicated program heard on more than 125 stations, the Radio Hall of Fame noted. He returned to Chicago in 1967 and worked as a disc jockey for WCFL-AM radio for five years, and WMAQ-AM briefly afterward. After leaving Chicago again for brief stints in Boston and Cincinnati, Biondi moved to South Carolina in 1973 – appearing on WNMB-FM in North Myrtle Beach, the Radio Hall of Fame noted.

In 1982, Biondi was one of several notable former Chicagoans featured on the CBS 2 special, "Where Are They Now?" hosted by reporters Bob Sirott and Carrie Cochran. Sirott visited Biondi in Myrtle Beach – where by then, the format of his show was mostly talk.

"I'm happy. I like the area. I like the people. But if I had a chance to prove it again, I'd love to, I really would – just one more time, maybe," Biondi told Sirott in the CBS 2 special. "I'd love to have a storefront studio in the Loop – really and truly – right there on street level like Marshall Field's window – a little studio – and have people just come in."

Biondi told Sirott he did not feel the same way about any other city, adding, "There's only one Chicago."

Not long afterward, Biondi was indeed back in Chicago – and this time, he was in town to stay. According to the Facebook page for "The Dick Biondi Film," "Sirott's segment about Biondi stirred up so much excitement that Dick was hired by WBBM radio [B96] for the morning show."

In 1984, Biondi became the signature voice for WJMK-104.3 FM – first known as Magic 104, later as Oldies 104.3 – where a new generation of Chicago kids were introduced to his voice as he played classic oldies from the 1950s and 60s each weekday evening. Some kids of the early 90s were as excited to meet Biondi at Chicago area malls as kids of the early 60s were to see him at record hops.

Biondi remained with WJMK until it switched formats in 2005. He wrapped up his career at WLS-FM 94.7, the sister station to his original base of operations in Chicago.

J.J. Bittenbinder, 80, Chicago Police detective, safety expert, CBS 2 contributor

Former Chicago Police detective, safety expert, and onetime CBS 2 contributor J.J. Bittenbinder died May 26.

Bittenbinder – full name John Joseph Bittenbinder – was born in Buffalo, New York, but grew up in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. After a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps, he joined the Chicago Police Department in  1971, as noted by the Chicago Tribune in a 1993 profile. 

Bittenbinder served 22 years with the CPD – 18 of them as a homicide detective. The 1993 Tribune profile noted that Bittenbinder worked on most major murder cases in Chicago going back to 1976 and served as the CPD liaison to the FBI during the investigation into the 1982 Tylenol murders.

Over the years, Bittenbinder became known around Chicago and beyond for his presentations on personal safety and ways to avoid being the victim of a crime. In 1992, he rose to a national stage with his PBS television special, "Street Smarts: How to Avoid Being a Victim."

Clad in a three-piece suit and sporting his signature handlebar mustache, Bittenbinder spoke before a studio audience in the special about what it means to be a "tough target" and to outsmart criminal "goofs." He emphasized repeatedly that the most vulnerable person was the most likely to be a target.

"You can't be the weakest one; the most vulnerable one there. You cannot be that one," Bittenbinder said in the special. "You ever see these nature shows that they have on television, where the antelopes are running in a herd and the lions are sneaking up on them? Have you ever seen the lion go after the swiftest and the strongest of the antelopes? He picks the weakest one…. These people are stronger than you are. They're swifter than you are. But you're probably smarter than they are. You know, when we throw these bad guys up against the wall and search them, we don't find any Mensa cards in their pockets."  

In the early 1990s, Bittenbinder became a reporter and safety consultant for CBS 2 – filing stories regularly in which he likewise provided advice on how to avoid being a target for crime.

For many years, Bittenbinder also gave lectures to community groups and schools – and one of those schools happened to be St. Clement Elementary School in Lincoln Park, where stand-up comedian John Mulaney was a young student at the time.

In his 2017 Netflix special, "John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City," Mulaney focused extensively on Bittenbinder and his "street smarts" presentations at the school. Mulaney described what he said were presentations by Bittenbinder advising elementary school assemblies on what to do if they were mugged, kidnapped, or grabbed by a stranger.

"Bittenbinder came every year with a program to teach us about the violent world waiting for us outside the school gym – and that program was called 'street smarts!'" Mulaney said in his special. "Time for street smarts with Detective J.J. Bittenbinder – shut up, you're all going to die! Street smarts!"  

Bittenbinder voiced displeasure with how he and his presentations and advice were depicted in Mulaney's stand-up special, though the special also made Bittenbinder a household name for new generations.

After retiring from the Chicago Police Department, Bittenbinder spent 10 years as an investigator with the Cook County Sheriff's office.

Doug Bragan, 79, stage theater owner and dramatic arts advocate

Doug Bragan, a onetime commodities trader who became the owner of a stage theater in East Lakeview and a champion of the art of theatre in Chicago, died July 8. He had been suffering from thyroid cancer.

Bragan was born in Baltimore. On Facebook, Bragan's longtime friend Vicki Quade wrote that his love of theatre "could be genetic" – as his mother, Shirley, and stepfather, William Howard, both performed on local TV shows in Baltimore.

Bragan studied at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, and then received an MBA from Northwestern University, Quade wrote. He went on to buy a commodities broker seat on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he worked in the International Money Market area, Quade wrote.

"Often eccentrically dressed in tattered shirts and a raincoat Columbo fans would appreciate, he had a mop of dark wiry hair that hadn't seen a brush in a long time," Quade wrote. "He also talked a mile a minute, always trying to urge you to work with him on a marketing campaign he had thought up."

Bragan bought the Ivanhoe Theater, at 750 W. Wellington Ave., in 1982. The Ivanhoe Castle building at Clark Street and Wellington Avenue had housed a restaurant and bar going back to the 1920s, and a stage theater since 1966. Bragan put $500,000 into the purchase and renovation of the Ivanhoe, Quade wrote.

In 1990, according to the Chicago Reader, producer Michael Leavitt took over the Ivanhoe and renamed it the Wellington Theater. But in 1994, Bragan took back over and built three more performance spaces.

Quade noted that her production, "Late Night Catechism" ran at the Ivanhoe from 1995 until 2000. The renowned Chicago production "Hellcab" was also staged at the Ivanhoe for many years, as were numerous productions by independent theatre companies.

The Ivanhoe under Bragan also notably staged the original Lookingglass Theatre production of "Metamorphoses" by Mary Zimmerman, and the Chicago premiere of Larry Kramer's play "The Normal Heart," the Reader noted.

Bragan sold the Ivanhoe Theater in 2001. Part of the Ivanhoe building had been occupied for many years by the Chalet Cheese Shop – which later became Binny's Beverage Depot. Binny's now occupies the entire Ivanhoe building.

Bragan also ran the theatre ad placement service A.R.T. League Inc., according to the Reader.

Quade noted that Bragan also donated to local performing arts groups such as the Black Ensemble Theater.

Andre Braugher, 61, actor

Emmy Award-winning actor and Chicago native Andre Braugher died Dec. 11, after a battle with lung cancer.

Braugher was an Emmy-winning actor known for roles in numerous television series including "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Men of a Certain Age," and "Homicide: Life on the Street."

Braugher was born in Chicago, and grew up in the West Side's Austin neighborhood. He graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep on the Near West Side in 1980, and went on to earn a bachelor of arts from Stanford University and a master of fine arts from Juilliard in New York City. 

After making his film debut in 1989's "Glory," Braugher achieved widespread recognition in 1993 for his role as Det. Frank Pembleton in "Homicide: Life on the Street." He spent six seasons on the show, and was nominated for best lead actor at the 1996 and 1998 Emmy awards, winning the latter year.

Braugher left the show after the 1998 season, but returned in 2000 for the made-for-TV movie "Homicide: The Movie." He also played the Pembleton character in a 1996 episode of "Law & Order."

Braugher then went on to star in the critically acclaimed TNT series "Men of a Certain Age." While the show only ran for two seasons, Braugher picked up two more Emmy nods in the best supporting actor category.

Braugher played Capt. Raymond Holt on all eight seasons of the police sitcom "Brooklyn Nine-Nine."

He racked up four more Emmy nominations for his portrayal of the stern, deadpan police captain.

Braugher earned a total of 11 Emmy nominations throughout his career, along with two Golden Globe nods and 22 NAACP Image Award nominations.

In addition to his TV and movie roles, Braugher was also remembered for his commitment to theatre in New York City. He acted in numerous plays at the Shakespeare in the Park festival in Central Park.

As reported by CBS 2 New York, Shakespeare in the Park director Oskar Eustis said in a statement in part: "Here at The Public, [Braugher] left a great library of performances, from King Henry in 'Henry V' and Claudius in 'Hamlet' to Duke Senior and Duke Frederick in 'As You Like It,' among many others. He combined brilliant command of the language with a powerful, passionate sense of truth. His trademark intensity was leavened by a striking sense of humor, a quality that the world discovered in 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine.'"

Contributing: Jordan Freiman, CBS News; Jessi Mitchell, CBS New York

Lin Brehmer, 68, WXRT radio personality

Lin Brehmer, a beloved disc jockey and host at 93XRT radio, died Jan. 22 after a battle with prostate cancer.

A native of the Queens borough of New York City, Brehmer found college radio at Colgate University in upstate Hamilton, New York during the summer of 1975, and graduated from Colgate the following year.

"After a collegiate experience of one part pocket billiards and two parts obscure literature seminars, Brehmer turned to WQBK-FM in Albany, New York for a job in January 1977," Brehmer's bio reads. At WQBK, he became known as "The Reverend of Rock and Roll."

Brehmer came to Chicago and joined WXRT in 1984 – first as the music director.

"During that time, he lived in the bleachers, learned to match wines with food and demonstrated a predilection for extolling rock bands that no one would ever listen to," Brehmer wrote in his bio. "Lin was named 'Music Director of the Year' by trade magazine, The Friday Morning Quarterback, in 1987, 1988 and 1990. In 1990, the Hard Report's readers chose Brehmer as the 'Music Director of the Decade.' This last award made just as much sense as a Playgirl article in 1985 naming him as one of America's Sexiest D.J.'s."

In 1990, Brehmer moved to Minneapolis and took a job as program director of KTCZ 97.1 FM. But a year later, he returned to Chicago and WXRT – this time taking his voice to the airwaves as morning host. Brehmer called himself "your best friend in the whole world," and it felt like that for Brehmer's loyal listeners.

Brehmer held court as morning host at 93XRT from 1991 until 2020, when he switched to the midday shift.

As CBS 2's Mugo Odigwe reported in January, Brehmer had a calm and kind manner that flowed easily through the radio. But really, he was just a good guy who loved music and considered himself lucky to have what he called the greatest job in the world.

While born in New York, Brehmer was also a diehard Cubs fan.

"In 1984, I was promised tickets to see the Cubs in the World Series if I came to work at WXRT. My first night out on Rush Street was the night that the Cubs clinched the pennant. My first apartment was on Wayne between Grace and Waveland," Brehmer told the Heckler in 2004. "Living in Wrigleyville messed me up bad because that was way too close to Wrigley Field. I averaged about 50 games a year sitting in the right center bleachers with [fellow WXRT personalities] Marty Lennartz, Wendy Rice, Johnny Mars, and other assorted people without real jobs."

Brehmer didn't go public with his cancer diagnosis until July 2022, but he had been undergoing treatment for prostate cancer for years. It began spreading last year, prompting a long period of chemotherapy treatments that forced him to take a leave of absence from his radio show. Brehmer returned to work in November 2022, but passed away two months later.

After his death, Golden Dagger bar and lounge in Lincoln Park quoted Brehmer's signature sign off, "It's great to be alive," on the sign above its door. The bar said in posts on social media that Brehmer's "simple, yet inspiring, sign-off brought so much joy to generations of Chicagoans."

Contributing: Mugo Odigwe

Teri Bristol, 66, house music DJ

Teri Bristol, a renowned Chicago house music DJ and producer who paved the way for a generation of other women DJs, died Sept. 25. She had been suffering from kidney failure since 2020.

Bristol began DJing in the 1980s. For more than a decade, she was music director at the old Crobar nightclub at 1543 N. Kingsbury St., where she co-ran the "Glee Club" LGBTQ+ night alongside Val Scheinpflug – also known as DJ Psycho-Bitch.

Bristol also DJ'd at the famous all-ages club Medusa's on Sheffield Avenue in Lakeview, Cairo on Wells Street in River North, and Smartbar on Clark Street in Wrigleyville, among other famous nightspots.

In an interview for the Chicago House Music Oral History Project in 2014, Bristol said she was born in Joliet – and spent part of her childhood in Tennessee before moving back with her family to southwest suburban Justice. As an adult, she moved into the city of Chicago.

Bristol told the project that as she came of age, she was a fan of 70s rock acts such as Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath – but was sold on disco when she listened to radio station WDAI. Bristol said eventually, she made her way to the old Chicago LGBTQ+ dance club Broadway Limited, at 3132 N. Broadway just south of Belmont Avenue, to experience disco DJs live in person.

Scheinpflug told Columbia College when she and Bristol first met, Bristol was working as a waitress at a cocktail bar – but learned how to operate the sound system on her downtime. When the DJ there got fired, Bristol was pressed into service as a DJ, she told Columbia College.

Bristol told Columbia College in the interview that the name "Glee Club" for the Sunday night event at Crobar started out as an acronym of "Gay, Lesbian, Everyone's Equal." It became the longest-running LGBTQ+ night in a bar geared toward a straight clientele.

The website Electronic Groove noted that Bristol collaborated with legendary DJ Frankie Knuckles, and also released her own records and mixes.

Bristol's family said on social media, "To know her was to know that the turntables were simply a conduit, a direct line, from her heart into each of ours."  

Dick Butkus, 80, Bears football icon

Hall-of-fame Chicago Bears linebacker and all-around NFL legend Dick Butkus died Oct. 5.

Richard Marvin Butkus played for the Bears from 1965 until 1973, and was an iconic representative of the team for generations. Known as the "Maestro of Mayhem," Butkus was Chicago through-and-through, starring on and off the field.

Butkus was to a Lithuanian American family in the Fernwood neighborhood on Chicago's Far South Side. He was the youngest of nine children.

Butkus became a star football player at Chicago Vocational High School, and at the University of Illinois – where he enrolled in 1961. By his junior year in 1963, Butkus had already made 145 tackles and forced 10 fumbles, his website said.

He led the Fighting Illini to the Big Ten Championship that year – and they finished the season ranked third in the nation, his website said. The Illini beat Washington 17-7 in the Rose Bowl that year.

Butkus was unanimously named All-American in 1964 – playing both sides of the ball a center on offense and a linebacker on defense, his website said. He later had his University of Illinois jersey, No. 50, retired – and is only one of two players to have received such an honor there, his website said.

Butkus' impact was so great that the Dick Butkus Award is now annually given to the top college linebacker in the country. The award was established in 1979.

Butkus was drafted into the NFL by the Bears in 1965 – wearing jersey No. 51. He had 11 solo tackles in his first game, his website reported.

Butkus' website said the 6-foot 3-inch, 245-pound powerhouse "terrorized opposing ball carriers and quarterbacks. His mauling style of tackling was worthy of a grizzly bear." In his nine-year NFL career, his website said, Butkus recovered 27 fumbles and had 22 interceptions.

No. 51 was feared – known around the league as a vicious tackler with a punishing presence, and regarded as the greatest linebacker in football.

Butkus was quoted on his website that his fierceness on the field was a major factor in his success.

"When I went out on the field to warm up, I would manufacture things to make me mad," he was quoted. "If someone on the other team was laughing, I'd pretend he was laughing at me or the Bears. It always worked for me."

Injuries began to take a toll on Butkus' knees by 1970, but he pressed on for three more years – with 117 tackles and 68 assists, three fumble recoveries, and four pass interceptions in 1971, his website said. When he retired in 1973, Butkus had been named first-team All-NFL for six years, and had been in eight consecutive Pro Bowls, his website said.

Butkus was named the NFL's 10th best player when the league celebrated 100 years.

After retiring from the NFL, Butkus veered into acting – appearing in a well-known series of Miller Lite ads in which he played "a gentlemanly tennis player who cheerfully debates the beer's merits with fellow ex-NFL defensive star Bubba Smith," his website said.

Butkus appeared in the movies "Necessary Roughness" and "Any Given Sunday." He also played Coach Mike Katowinski in the sitcom "Hang Time," Ed Klawicki the sitcom "My Two Dads," and "Ski" Butowski in the TV adaptation of the movie "Blue Thunder," among many other roles.

Butkus also made numerous appearances in scripted TV shows as himself over the years.

In 1988 and 1989, Butkus also served as an analyst on CBS Sports' "The NFL Today" pregame show, working alongside Irv Cross and Brent Musburger.

Bears Chairman George H. McCaskey called Butkus "the ultimate Bear."

"He was Chicago's icon. He exuded what our great city is about and, not coincidentally, what George Halas looked for in a player: toughness, smarts, instincts, passion, and leadership," McCaskey wrote. "He refused to accept anything less than the best from himself, or from his teammates."

Finley Campbell, 88, professor and civil rights activist

The Rev. Dr. Finley Campbell, an ordained minister, professor, and civil rights and social justice activist who lived in for many years in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, died Aug. 18. Published reports said he died of lung cancer.

Born in Anderson, South Carolina, Campbell moved to Detroit with his family at the age of 8, according to his obit, as published by the First Unitarian Church of Chicago. Campbell studied English and American literature at Morehouse College in Atlanta – and went on to earn an M.A. from Atlanta University.

While studying at Atlanta University, Campbell studied French at Sorbonne Université in Paris, the church obit noted. During those studies, he met his first wife, Liliane – who lived in Geneva, Switzerland, and who had to "pass as Black" for them to be allowed to reside together legally back in Georgia, the church obit noted.

Campbell began teaching at Morehouse College in 1960, and was ordained as a Baptist minister the following year, the obit noted. He earned his Ph.D. with honors in English literature from the University of Chicago in 1969, with supervision by historian John Hope Franklin for his dissertation, his obit noted.

Campbell moved with his family the same year to Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he taught at Wabash College. According to an article from the Progressive Labor Party, with which Campbell was involved as an activist for many years, Campbell also ran for governor of Indiana on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket.

Campbell became very active in the Civil Rights movement following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

In 1972, Campbell and his family moved to Madison, Wisconsin – where he took a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There, Campbell organized the Black Studies department and a chapter of the InterNational Committee Against Racism, according to his obit from the Unitarian Church. He moved to Chicago in 1977, and went on to teach at the University of Illinois Chicago and DeVry University.

Campbell was wounded by a shotgun blast during a protest against the Ku Klux Klan in Tupelo, Mississippi in the summer of 1979, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. He was also involved in demonstrations against Nazis in Chicago's Marquette Park – leading a group of workers and students of all different racial backgrounds, the Progressive Labor Party noted in his obit.

Campbell and his third wife, Bobbi, joined the First Unitarian Church in Hyde Park in 1992 – and he was involved in numerous social justice and anti-racism groups and causes at the church, according to his obit.

"Finley's principled anti-racism, so thoroughly uncompromising, led him to an understanding that is still not grasped by many people: that racism in many forms globally is the obstacle that holds back all social progress. That the majority of people, working class people, from all racial and ethnic groups, are harmed by this division, and that it is foolish and dangerous to blame so-called 'white' people as a whole for these problems," Campbell's obit read. "He fought for multi-racial unity against racism and all other forms of economic, political, social, and cultural discrimination."

DJ Casper, 58, "Cha-Cha Slide" creator

DJ Casper, the man behind the infectious "Cha-Cha Slide," died Aug. 7. He had battled cancer for many years.

Casper was born Willie Perry Jr., and was also known as Mr. C the Slide Man. The "Casper" name came from his fashion choice of wearing all white during his performances, according to published reports.

According to V103, Casper was dancing in school and impersonating stars such as James Brown, Teddy Pendergrass, Muddy Waters, and Eddie Murphy as a little boy.

In 1998, he wrote "Casper Slide Pt. 1" – also known as "Cha Cha Slide," according to an obit story by Eric San Juan.

Casper reportedly wrote the "Cha-Cha Slide" about his nephew, who was a personal trainer. San Juan's obit noted that the composition was originally meant to accompany aerobics training sessions – and was heard in gyms in the Chicago area. Casper went on to release a second version, "Casper Slide Pt. 2," San Juan wrote.

The "Cha Cha Slide" really took off in 2000, when Elroy Smith of WCGI-107.5 FM began playing it, San Juan wrote. It became a hit in North America the following year, and topped the singles chart in the U.K. by 2004, San Juan wrote.

The music video for the song, shot in Chicago, captures the widespread appeal of Casper's "Cha-Cha Slide," featuring people from all walks of life – young and old – dancing together.

The song became so famous it even provided the soundtrack for a Saturday Night Live skit starring fellow Chicagoan John Mulaney, and was often played at sporting events.

Casper also made an appearance performing the Cha-Cha Slide in the sixth season of the Netflix series "Orange Is the New Black."

John Chandler, 87, bookstore owner

John Chandler, a beloved bookstore owner on the north lakefront, died Feb. 14.

Chandler was the owner of Bookman's Corner, at the southeast corner of Clark Street and Wellington Avenue in East Lakeview. The bookstore served readers with an appetite for "books: rare, medium, and well done" – as a sign in the window pointed out.

Chandler served in the U.S. Army, and held several degrees from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

In a December 2016 profile, 14 East Magazine noted that Chandler had been a bookseller since 1975, when he opened a stall at a Detroit flea market. He opened a bookstore in Chicago under the Southport Avenue Brown Line station in 1979, and Bookman's Corner opened at its Clark and Wellington location in 1984, the magazine reported.

Following Chandler's passing, CBS 2's Noel Brennan talked with Jack Stanley – a regular customer at Bookman's Corner for many years.

"John's bookstore, Bookman's Corner," Stanley said, "it was unlike any bookstore you ever saw, because it was organized chaos."

Stanley talked about how he browsed for books and stuck around for the conversation with Chandler.

"As the years went by, we got a lot closer, and we just enjoyed each other's company," he said. "It was really fun."

Another longtime customer, Miles Thompson, said Bookman's Corner was "probably my favorite bookstore in the world."

"The majority of the books I own come from there," Thompson said. "I loved it because it was so affordable."

After Chandler's death, Bookman's Corner closed, and the books were cleared out.

Contributing: Noel Brennan

Pat Ciara, 74, Chicago Fire Department paramedic and chief

Pat Ciara, a pioneer in the Chicago Fire Department who served decades as a paramedic and was later promoted to district chief, died April 19. She died of lung cancer at her home in Lake Worth, Florida.

Ciara made history as the highest-ranking out lesbian in the history of the Chicago Fire Department, as noted by the Windy City Times.

Ciara grew up in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the city's Southwest Side, and later moved with her family to southwest suburban Worth. She told the Windy City Times that with no girls' softball league at her high school in Oak Lawn, she joined one in Evergreen Park – while telling her mother she was "playing volleyball or something a little more feminine."

After obtaining an associate's degree from Mayfair College and completing paramedic school, Ciara owned Town & Country Ambulance for about a year and a half with a straight male business partner named Gerry, she told the Windy City Times. Ciara was hired by the Chicago Fire Department in February 1980, and was promoted to paramedic in charge within eight months, the publication reported.

In 1994, Ciara was promoted to chief of EMS training – heading up the team responsible for all the CFD paramedics who were going through training or continuing education. As head of EMS training, Ciara and her team also provided a welcoming and supportive environment for high school and college interns who passed through as part of the City of Chicago's paid internship program – and Ciara herself had an unforgettable sense of humor that lightened up the office.

Ciara told the Windy City Times she was promoted to deputy chief paramedic in 2000, and took over the logistics of the CFD paramedic division after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

While with the CFD, Ciara obtained a B.S. in business management from National-Louis University in 2001, and an M.A. in industrial relations from Loyola University two years later, the Windy City Times reported. In 2004, she became district chief and director of personnel at the CFD – handling retirement and hiring packages and medical evaluations for the department, the Windy City Times reported. Ciara retired from the CFD in 2007.

In 1999, Ciara met her future wife, Kathleen Ciara-McGuire, through the AOL profiles directory, the publication reported. They had a civil union service in Vermont four years later, and were legally married in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 2010, the Windy City Times reported. The couple co-owned the Chick A Boom Resale Boutique in Andersonville, the publication reported.

Ciara was a longtime member of the Windy City Pride LGBTQ bowling league, which described her in a Facebook post as "a force to be reckoned with." She was also a longtime member of LGPA/GOAL Chicago – the city's LGBTQ police and fire association – with which she participated in several Chicago Pride Parades.

Robert Cross, 84, travel journalist

Bob Cross, who wrote for the Chicago Tribune for more than four decades and was best known as a travel writer, died May 31.

Cross was a native of the Lake Huron town of Cheboygan, Michigan. He attended journalism school at Wayne State University and graduated in 1962, and went on to work as a researcher at Newsweek Magazine and a reporter for Newsday in New York City, according to his obit.

But he was best known for his many years at the Chicago Tribune.

"With a penetrating intelligence, he was deeply curious about the reasons behind big events and about often overlooked, offbeat moments in American life,"  his obit read. "That curiosity, coupled with his gift for elegant but unstuffy, colorful prose made him a perfect match for the Tribune's features departments, which underwent groundbreaking changes in the 1970s."

A Nov. 7, 1971, Tribune article by Cross shows this curiosity and colorful prose in practice. The article is titled, "Proud old, stubborn old, Wicker Park" – and of course predates by many years the Wicker Park of Brooklyn-esque hipsters, artisan restaurants, craft beer bars, MTV's "The Real World," and "High Fidelity."

"Slums do not happen overnight much anymore. Instead, certain neighborhoods take the city's backwash for decades, slowly eroding, awakening to the discomfort the erosion brings, feeling helpless as they see the good life slip away," wrote Cross in the article. "Wicker Park, a sliver of neighborhood on the Near Northwest Side, may be going through one of these stages now, but the almost imperceptible erosion process makes it hard to tell how bad the damage is or whether it can be reversed in time to benefit the people living there now."

Cross wrote for many years for the Tempo features section of the Tribune. Tempo was developed in a strategy to attract both men and women readers to the features section – which previously had been geared toward just women, according to his obit.

But Cross was best known for his work in the travel section – and his travels around the world that made that work possible. Cross wrote for the travel section of the Tribune for 14 years until he retired, his family said in his obit.

Cross' travel features took the reader right along with him as he documented the good and bad alike.

"It was on Corso Umberto that I discovered my pockets suddenly lacked anything of value. I cursed the thief. I cursed myself for failing to heed all the cautionary tales about light-fingered Neapolitans. I even cursed Naples," Cross wrote in a 2003 travel story on Naples, Italy. "But that was before the seduction. The region began to work on me -- soothing, cajoling, humoring -- during an afternoon jaunt to the Isle of Capri."

Cross met his wife, Juju Lien – a social worker at the time – when he interviewed her for a Sunday Tribune Magazine story on Cambodian refugees, his obit read.

Daughter Amy Lien Cross was quoted in her father's obit: "My father always loved to travel and explore new places and things, so he really loved being a travel writer. For years, the Tribune travel section sent him all over the United States, and many trips to Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia."

Cross received the Lowell Thomas Award for travel journalism four times, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, his obit noted.

He retired in 2007.

Frank Galati, 79, stage actor, director, adaptor

Frank Galati – a stage director, adaptor, and actor who worked for many years with the Steppenwolf and Goodman theatres in Chicago – died Jan. 2.

A native of Highland Park, Galati participated in appeared in stage productions at Glenbrook High School – including "The Mikado," according to a biography from Northwestern University. He spent his first year of college enrolled at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, but later transferred to Northwestern University – where he performed in scores of theatre productions, according to Northwestern.

Galati went on to earn his bachelor's and master's degrees in speech at Northwestern, and earned his Ph.D. from the university in 1971, the university said. He joined the university's faculty full-time the following year, while also gaining recognition onstage in Chicago, the university said.

Galati taught performance study at Northwestern for nearly 40 years.

Meanwhile, Galati won his first Joseph Jefferson Award in 1973 for "Boss," a musical satire about Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley – for which he had written the script and lyrics based on Mike Royko's book of the same name, Northwestern said.

"He was an actor. He was a director. He was a writer. He was an educator, and he was theatrical innovator," Roche Schulfer, chief executive officer of the Goodman, told CBS 2's Noel Brennan in January.

In 1985, Galati joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Lincoln Park as an ensemble member. He became the associate director of the Goodman downtown the following year – and remained in that role until 2008.

Galati's adaptation of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" debuted at the Steppenwolf and went on to Broadway in New York. The play starred Gary Sinise in the role of Tom Joad.

Galati won two Tony Awards in 1990 for the production – one for best play and the other for best director.

He also received a Tony Award nomination for "Ragtime," and an Oscar nomination for best screenplay for "The Accidental Tourist." He also was credited for writing the teleplay to Arthur Miller's play "The American Clock" in 1993.

The Steppenwolf noted that he while Galati was also known for his stage acting, appearing in such productions as "The Drawer Boy" and "The Tempest" for the Steppenwolf.

Galati directed adaptations of Haruki Murakami's "after the quake" short story collection and "Kafka on the Shore" novel at the Steppenwolf, and also directed his own adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's "The March." At the Goodman, his productions included "The Visit," "She Always Said Pablo," "the Winter's Tale," The Good Person of Setzuan," and "Cry the Beloved Country," the Steppenwolf noted.

After moving to Florida in 2010 with his husband, theatre director Peter Amster, Galati became an artistic associate at the Asolo Repertory Theatre on the Ringling Museum campus in Sarasota. Most recently, Galati directed the Asolo Rep's 2022 world premiere musical "Knoxville," which was adapted from the James Agee novel "A Death in the Family."

Contributing: Noel Brennan

Shecky Greene, 97, standup comic

Shecky Greene, a Chicago native and a gifted comic and master improviser who became the consummate Las Vegas lounge headliner, died Dec. 31.

Those who saw Greene in his decades of comedy dominance on the Vegas Strip in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s said that with a mic in his hand, he could roam a room and work a crowd like no other. He couldn't wait to abandon written jokes for the shared thrill of improv.

"I've never had an act," Greene told the Las Vegas Sun in 2009. "I make it up as I go along."

Born Fred Sheldon Greenfield, Greene grew up in the Rogers Park neighborhood and attended Sullivan High School, according to published reports. Greene took to singing, acting, making jokes, and doing mock accents while growing up in Rogers Park.

Quoted by historian Dr. Neil Gale, New York Times sportswriter Ira Berkow once pointed out that the long-since-closed Ashkenaz Restaurant and Delicatessen at 1432 W. Morse Ave. named a sandwich after Greene when he struck it big.

"The Shecky Greene sandwich was named in his honor at Ashkenaz as the neighborhood's ultimate tribute to a local boy made good. The sandwich consisted of a double-decker of corned beef and egg, lettuce, tomato, and a generous dollop of potato salad spilling onto the plate," Berkow was quoted. "That and their barbecue beef sandwich with the special Ashkenaz hot sauce that made you cross-eyed with the first taste were favorites in the mid-1950s."

Greene served in the Navy in World War II in the Pacific. On returning to Chicago, he went to community college and thought he might become a gym teacher, but started doing comedy nightclub gigs for money.

Greene's website notes that he began doing his comedy gigs in Milwaukee, and then left college for good when he was asked to perform at Martha Raye's club in Miami. Back in Chicago, Greene also performed at the Chez Paree, located back then at 610 N. Fairbanks Ct. in Streeterville.

Also in Chicago, Greene was also known in particular for his appearances at the also long-gone Mister Kelly's, 1028 N. Rush St., outside which one story says he handed his car keys to a man he thought was a valet – only to have his car stolen.

In New Orleans, an offer of a two-week gig at the Prevue Lounge turned into a six-year stint for Greene.

Greene did his first show in Las Vegas in 1953. He found he and the Strip were a perfect match, and within a few years he owned the town. In 1956, he opened for a young Elvis Presley at the New Frontier. Greene would remain a Vegas mainstay, his playgrounds places like the Riviera and the Tropicana, for the next 30 years.

Greene made huge fans of his fellow entertainers – including Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, and, most famously, Frank Sinatra, who hand-picked him as his opening act for a stretch. Greene couldn't resist the gig with the biggest star in America at the time, but the two big personalities butted heads frequently, and the relationship ended with the comic taking a beating from the singer's cronies at the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach.

It led to his most famous joke:

"Frank Sinatra once saved my life," Greene would say. "A bunch of guys were beating on me and Frank said, 'OK that's enough.'"

Sinatra wasn't actually there, Greene later said, but the beatdown was real. Also true was the oft-repeated story of Greene driving his Oldsmobile into the fountains at Caesars Palace in 1968, a consequence of what he conceded was a serious alcohol problem and a dangerous desire to go for a drive when he was a few drinks in.

He got a famous joke out of that moment too, later saying that when the cops arrived at his submerged car, whose windshield wipers running, he told them, "No spray wax please!"

Greene made appearances in films including 1967's "Tony Rome" with Sinatra, 1981's "History of the World Part I" with Mel Brooks, and 1984's "Splash" with Tom Hanks. He also showed-up on network sitcoms including "Laverne & Shirley" and "Mad About You," and was a constant guest on talk and variety shows.

But Greene never really clicked on the screen. He needed a crowd he could interact with, and a whole night to woo them. That meant never becoming as famous as comic contemporaries like Don Rickles, Buddy Hackett or Carson. But he pulled the same six-figure-a-week paychecks as they did for live shows.

Greene gained his share of national fame eventually. He could fill Carnegie Hall, and guest-hosted both Carson's "Tonight Show" and "The Merv Griffin Show."

Greene moved to Palm Springs in an attempt at retirement in his late 70s in 2004, but the stage still had appeal, and he returned for a stint in Las Vegas at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino in 2009.

Returning to a city now dominated by the likes of Celine Dion and Cirque du Soleil, Greene found he could stroll through casinos anonymously.

"I'm a legend," he told the Sun in 2009, "but nobody knows me in Vegas anymore."

Contributing: Andrew Dalton / The Associated Press

Gordon "Buzz" Hannan, 77, CBS 2 stage manager

Gordon "Buzz" Hannan, a beloved member of the CBS 2 family, died Feb. 9. Hannan spent 49 years with CBS 2.

He started in film processing in 1963, and then went on to work as a stage manager alongside generations of CBS 2 News staffers.

As a floor director, Hannan was part of everything that went on at CBS 2 – and a direct witness to decades of changes in the technology and presentation of the news.

Former CBS 2 producer Roy Santoro wrote about the steady hand that Hannan provided while directing from the floor of CBS 2's working newsroom set at our old McClurg Court studios in Streeterville – with local legends Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson on the anchor desk.

"When we had that working newsroom there it would get loud and only Buzz could bring it under control. I remember more than once Buzz yelling: 'Hey, everyone shut the hell up. We are coming out of break. And even Bill and Walter would obey," Santoro wrote. "He always knew where everyone should be and when they should be there. And he was a funny guy with a good soul."

By email, Kurtis himself wrote of joining CBS 2 in 1966 and observing Hannan as a young man honing his film tech skills.

"We'd pass in the corridor and I had this image that while the newsroom's focus was outside the building trying to capture footage of a city burning, the Democratic Convention protests and the trials that followed, Buzz was working his unseen magic in the engine room of a great aircraft carrier – confidently giving a thumbs up to the strained faces of writers and reporters asking if the film was OK," Kurtis wrote.

After a stint with CBS News in Los Angeles, Kurtis returned to CBS 2 to find Hannan now "fully fledged" as a member of the directorial team.

"I can't remember a single time his countdown was off the mark before the red light went on. His presence became a fixture as much as any studio camera could be," Kurtis wrote. "Buzz leaves a legacy of reliability, commitment, and dedication to the craft that we all share. He was with us every step of the way, and leaves it better than when we were asking if the 'film was out of the soup.'"

Former CBS 2 anchor and reporter Susan Anderson wrote: "And when Buzz was 'on the floor' – and you were on-air, on set – you knew you were in good hands and he'd take care of you. I remember his infectious smile, his joyous, loping gait, and in a room where disgruntlement was often afoot, the absolute relish and delight he brought to his job. He truly loved it (and us). What a great guy to have on our team."

James Hoge, 87, former Chicago Sun-Times editor

James F. Hoge Jr., an award-winning journalist who was best known in Chicago as editor and publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, died Sept. 19. In an obit story, the Sun-Times itself credited Hoge with "helping usher in a golden age of Chicago journalism" by bringing on new talent and approving bold investigative reporting projects.

A New York City native, Hoge attended the University of Chicago for graduate school – and started at the Sun-Times as a police reporter in 1959 when he was still studying at the U of C, the Sun-Times reported. Through the 1960s, Hoge advanced to assistant city editor, managing editor, editor-in-chief, and finally publisher, the Sun-Times reported.

One of Hoge's greatest achievements at the Sun-Times came in 1969, after the rival Chicago Tribune showed a photo of the West Side home of Black Panthers leader Fred Hampton after the police raid in which Hampton and Panther Mark Clark were killed, and several others were wounded. The photo claimed to show bullet holes in a door frame from gunfire that Black Panthers members had shot at police, the Sun-Times reported. Hoge received a call saying the bullet holes were fabricated, and went with reporter Joe Reilly to find no bullet holes in the door, the Sun-Times reported.

The Sun-Times ran a story on the discovery the following day, and later stories led to Cook County State's Attorney Edward Hanrahan – under whose direction the Chicago Police officers who carried out the raid acted – being denied another term in office in 1972, the Sun-Times reported.

The Sun-Times reported that its greatest achievement under Hoge's leadership was an investigation in which the newspaper bought an old bar on Wells Street in River North and ran it undercover – in an effort to bust city inspectors taking bribes for looking the other way when it came to health and safety code violations, as recalled by the Columbia Journalism Review.

The Sun-Times bought the bar in 1977 and named it "Mirage" – staffing it with reporters and investigators as bartenders, a photographer as a repairman, and a hole in the ceiling for cameras, the Columbia Journalism review reported. The result was a 25-part series by Sun-Times reporters and would-be bar staffers Zay N. Smith and Pam Zekman – the latter of whom went on to become CBS 2's star investigative reporter for nearly 40 years – along with Bill Recktenwald of the Better Government Association. The reporting led to changes in state law and indictments of numerous electrical inspectors, the Columbia Journalism Review reported.

Hoge left the Sun-Times in 1984 after it was sold by Field Enterprises to media titan Rupert Murdoch. The New York Times noted that Hoge had assembled a group to try to buy the paper, but Murdoch easily outbid them.

Soon afterward, Hoge returned to his hometown of New York City and became publisher of the New York Daily News. The Times reported Hoge's time at the Daily News was marked by a five-month strike in 1990 and 1991 – after the union pushed back as he tried to reduce "overstaffing and featherbedding" at the paper.

In 1992, Hoge became the editor of Foreign Affairs, the journal of the Council on Foreign Relations – a position he held until 2010.

"The second-longest serving editor in the magazine's century-long history, Hoge spearheaded a vigorous period of growth and fostered an editorial vision that made the magazine widely accessible while maintaining its preeminence within American and international foreign policy communities," the Council on Foreign Relations wrote.

The Council noted that Hoge also served as chairman of the International Center for Journalists and Human Rights Watch and the senior adviser at Teneo. He also held numerous positions in academia.

Isaac "Redd" Holt, 91, jazz drummer

Isaac "Redd" Holt, a Grammy-winning jazz fusion drummer and educator who is likely best known as a member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, died May 23.

Holt was born in Rosedale, Mississippi, and attended the Chicago Public Schools before receiving advanced instruction the Chicago School of Music in early the 1950s, according to the HistoryMakers. He bought his first drum kit as a sophomore at Crane Technical High School on the Near West Side, the HistoryMakers reported.

Holt went on to join the original Ramsey Lewis Trio – alongside pianist Lewis and bass player Eldee Young.

In 1956, their first album, "Ramsey Lewis and His Gentlemen of Jazz" was released on the Chess label – and shortly afterward, the trio performed at Birdland in New York. That three-week stint led to performances at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Village Vanguard.

They broke through in 1965 with the crossover hit, "The In Crowd."

In 1966, the trio broke up and went their separate ways. Holt and Young formed Young-Holt Unlimited – which became known for the hit "Soulful Strut," and the single "Wack Wack" – the latter of which was used in the movie "Harriet the Spy," according to the HistoryMakers. Young-Holt Unlimited disbanded in 1974.

Young, Holt, and Lewis reunited the trio for five-night series of reunion concerts in December 1982 at George's Supper Club in River North. CBS 2's Harry Porterfield – who also passed away this year – attended a concert and filed a story on it for the old CBS 2 news magazine program "Two on Two."

One of the reunion concerts was released as the album "Reunion" in 1983.

In the 1980s, Holt returned to school to study radio and television at Kennedy-King College, according to the HistoryMakers. He was also active for several years as a jazz educator with the nonprofit Urban Gateways, and directed the Gumption Performing Artists Workshop on the city's South Side for performing artists to enhance their skills from 1980 until 1985, according to the HistoryMakers.

Holt also toured Europe and Asia for decades, according to his website.

More recently, Holt played drums in a band with bassist Ken Haebich and pianist Jim Ryan, which performed Friday nights at The East Bank Club. In 2018, Holt recorded his last album, "It's a Take."

Bobby Hull, 84, Blackhawks hockey legend

Legendary Chicago Blackhawks player Bobby Hull, the team's all-time leading goal scorer, died Jan. 30.

Though his image was tarnished by a number of scandals off the ice, he remained one of the team's elite players of all time.

Hull, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983, played 17 seasons in the NHL, including 15 with the Blackhawks.

He was born in Point Anne, Ontario, Canada, and joined the Blackhawks in 1957. Nicknamed "The Golden Jet" for his skating ability, Hull led the NHL in scoring for the 1959-60 season with 39 goals, scored 50 goals two seasons later, and set a new record with 54 goals, 43 assists, and 97 points during the 1965-1966 season, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Hull accomplished the feat of scoring more than 50 goals twice more with the Blackhawks in the NHL, in 1967 and 1969.

Hull also played for seven seasons playing for the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA, a professional hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. He announced his retirement during the 1978-79 season, but returned the next season after the WHA merged with the NHL, according to CBS Sports. He played in 18 games with the Winnipeg Jets that season, and nine more after being traded to the Hartford Whalers before retiring permanently.

Hull ranks first in career goals for the Blackhawks, with 604, and third in career points with 1,153. He and fellow Hall of Famers Stan Mikita, Pierre Pilote, and Glenn Hall led the team to the 1961 Stanley Cup title – as the Blackhawks defeated the Detroit Red Wings in six games.

Hull's reputation off the ice was marred by controversy and legal issues. As noted by CBS Sports, Hull faced domestic abuse allegations from two of his three wives – and his third wife, Deborah, filed charges against him, later dropping them. Hull was also convicted of assaulting a police officer who intervened in a dispute between Hull and his then-wife Deborah in 1986.

A Russian newspaper reported in 1998 that Hull said Adolf Hitler "had some good ideas." Hull denied making the comment, calling it "false and defamatory."

Hull was named a Chicago team ambassador by the Blackhawks in 2008, along with Mikita. The franchise announced in February 2022 that Hull had retired from any official team role, calling it a joint decision.

"Bobby Hull will always be remembered as one of the greatest Blackhawks players of all time. He was a beloved member of the Blackhawks family," team owner Rocky Wirtz, who also died this year, said in a statement upon Hull's passing. "When I assumed leadership of the organization upon my father's passing in 2007, one of my first priorities was to meet with Bobby to convince him to come back as an ambassador of the team. His connection to our fans was special and irreplaceable."

Contributing: CBS Sports, The Associated Press

Richard Hunt, 88, sculptor

Richard Hunt, a famed sculptor and Chicago native, died Dec. 16.

Hunt's metal sculptures have appeared in museums and as public monuments around the country. He held over 150 solo exhibitions and is represented in more than 100 public museums worldwide.

Hunt was also the creator of more than 160 public sculpture commissions in more than 24 states and Washington, D.C.

Hunt grew up on the city's South Side – first in Woodlawn, then in Englewood, according to a biography on his website. His father was a barber, his mother the first Black librarian in Chicago.

As a youngster, Hunt took art lessons at the South Side Community Center and the Junior School of the Art Institute of Chicago, according to his website. Visits to the city's public museums grew his interest in African art.

Hunt would go on to study the artworks of welded metal, and attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on a scholarship. He taught himself to weld while studying there in 1955, according to his website.

At the age of 19, Hunt witnessed the open-casket funeral of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago who was tortured and lynched after being accused of whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. Hill had grown up only two blocks from Hunt's first home in Woodlawn, his website reported. Hunt's future art – and commitment to Civil Rights – were shaped by the experience of attending the funeral, his website reported.

After he graduated from the School of the Art Institute, Hunt spent a year in Europe – working at the Marinelli foundry in Florence, Italy, his website reported. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1958, he was called to serve in the U.S. Army.

While in the Army, stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, Hunt desegregated a lunch counter at the Woolworth's in Alamo Plaza in 1960, his website reported. He was the first African American to be served there.

President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Hunt as the first African American visual artist to serve on the National Council on the Arts in 1968. In 1971, Hunt was the first African American sculptor to be honored with a retrospective exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, his website reported.

Hunt sculpted major monuments and sculptures for some of the country's most renowned figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mary McLeod Bethune, Jesse Owens, Hobart Taylor Jr., and Ida B. Wells.

CBS 2's Asal Rezaei spoke to Hunt last year at his studio on Lill Avenue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, as he was working on a special piece for the Obama Center.

In a statement, Barack and Michelle Obama called Hunt "one of the finest artists ever to come out of Chicago."

Marilyn Katz, 78, writer, activist, political consultant

Social activist, political consultant, PR executive, writer, and filmmaker Marilyn Katz died Oct. 26.

The self-described activist and polemicist was on the ground organizing as far back as her college days in the 1960s. As she wrote in a Chicago Sun-Times op-ed, she became an organizer as a college student with the JOIN Community Union in the Uptown neighborhood – an offshoot of Students for a Democratic Society that she wrote hoped to "create an interracial movement for the poor."

While serving in that organizing role in 1966, Katz joined a multiracial and multicultural coalition of activists from around Chicago to march with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Marquette Park. Two years later at the age of 23, Katz was head of security for Students for a Democratic Society as demonstrators violently clashed with police while Chicago hosted the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Police officers who were deployed to the demonstrations described having rocks and bricks thrown at them. But demonstrators, including Katz, maintained the police were the aggressors – though some recounted fighting back against officers.

In a 2018 interview with NPR's Scott Simon for CBS Sunday Morning, Katz said: "The notion that anybody came to the party with the idea of a big fight is wrong. I understand that they felt that one, they should keep control of their city, and that the Democratic Party and the mayor were saying, 'We're counting on you to keep things in order.' There was no excuse for beating us."

Simon asked Katz whether she saw anyone throw things at police officers during the unrest in Grant Park.

"Yes. Yes, I did," she told Simon in the 2016 interview. "And if I had had something, I would have thrown it back too, because we had done nothing."

Katz also stood at the forefront for numerous other causes – including abortion rights. As noted in a biography from the Women's Media Center, Katz founded the avant-garde agitprop group "WITCH" (Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell), the Chicago Women's Union, the Reproductive Rights National Network, and Chicago Women Organized for Reproductive Choice.

Katz worked as a filmmaker early in her career, and later served as a media and press consultant for Harold Washington's successful run for Chicago mayor in 1983 – working alongside fellow longtime activist Bill Zimmerman. Much of the white Chicago Democratic political establishment had chosen to back Republican challenger Bernie Epton over a Black candidate in Washington, and Katz and Zimmerman were behind two campaign ads that took some Epton supporters to task for brazen racism.

In 2002, Katz was involved with the Chicagoans Against War in Iraq, which put together a rally that fall at which then-Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama made a well-known antiwar speech.

Katz also founded and headed up MK Communications – described by Women's Media Center as "a full–service media, community, and government relations company which represents numerous government, community, non-profit, and philanthropic entities throughout the nation."

She also served on the board of Human Rights Watch Chicago and the national board of J Street, and became a certified Pilates instructor later in her life, according to the Women's Media Center.

Ray Kizelevicus, 76, English teacher

Ray Kizelevicus, who spent 42 years as a beloved English teacher at St. Ignatius College Prep on Chicago's Near West Side, died July 5.

Kizelevicus – of Downers Grove and before that Oak Park – taught English to thousands of students during his tenure at the school from 1970 until 2013. He is remembered in particular by many students as the tough, but supportive teacher of the single-semester speech class that St. Ignatius students often take as freshmen.

"I'll never forget taking Mr. K's speech class freshman year. Instead of writing out the whole speech, we were only allowed one index card with six words to guide us through our speech," Ignatius alum Katie Goldhagen wrote in a tribute to Kizelevicus upon his passing. "And you know what? Six words were enough! We learned to look at the audience and not at our cards."

Kizelevicus also served as a baseball coach at Ignatius, and was especially well-known as the faculty moderator for "Prep," the St. Ignatius yearbook, for which he encouraged both hard work and creativity among the students who worked on it. Over sandwiches in Little Italy near the Ignatius campus, Kizelevicus would also make a point of connecting personally with the students on the yearbook staff, telling stories about such things as his days driving a bus as a young man.

At any given class reunion or alumni event, former students were likely to see Kizelevicus making the rounds – and he was sure to remember them right away.

Kizelevicus' obituary noted that he was also always eager to help his children and grandchildren with school projects, sports, and cooking – and he traveled the world in retirement.

One alum, John Supplitt, wrote on Kizelevicus' obituary tribute wall: "He was a great teacher, coach and friend and he led SICP out of the depths of a death spiral in the 70s to the esteemed co-ed college prep of national renown. We all owe him a debt of gratitude, including me."

Linda Lenz, 77, education reporter and Catalyst magazine founder

Linda Lenz, an education reporter who founded the news and analysis magazine Catalyst, died April 28.

Chris Groza of the Chicago Reporter wrote in an obit story that Lenz's "impact on education and social reform cannot be overstated."

Lenz attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She went on to write for the Pioneer Press newspapers and then the old Chicago Daily News.

Lenz then covered education from the Chicago Sun-Times after the Chicago Daily News folded in 1978, the Chicago Reporter reported.

At the start of the 1990s, Lenz presented a plan for a new publication focused on education to the Community Renewal Society, parent organization to the Chicago Reporter – which investigates issues surrounding race and poverty.

The first issue of Catalyst was published in February 1990. Its articles focused on issues such as principal selection, testing, school choice, and the lack of bilingual teachers in Chicago, Groza wrote.

The publication was distributed for free to Chicago parents, Groza wrote.

Groza emphasized that Lenz personally recognized the lack of information being made available to parents serving on local school councils for the Chicago Public Schools – and sought to ameliorate the problem.

Catalyst thrived in the years to come, with analysis of school budgets and new curriculum changes, and investigative series – including the bribery scandal that led to the conviction and imprisonment of onetime CPS Chief Executive Officer Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Groza wrote.

Lenz also made appearances on local news around Chicago to provide analysis on issues from charter schools to new CPS leadership.

Lenz retired in 2015, and Catalyst folded the following year, the Chicago Reporter reported.

Rocky Lopez, 53, tortilla maker and actor

Elgin actor and tortilla maker Rocky Lopez died in a motorcycle accident in West Dundee on Aug. 9.

Roque Hernan Lopez was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and raised in Chicago before settling in Elgin. He worked as a truck driver, construction worker, and commercial driver's license instructor over the years, according to his obit.

He went on to run a tortilla company, and began using his Facebook page to document his experiences as a tortilla entrepreneur – with videos showing him making the tortillas, delivering them, and talking about the business, according to Patch.

When he relaunched the business in 2016, Lopez credited the videos with helping increase his sales, Patch reported.

Lopez most recently used social media to document his foray into acting. According to Amazon, Lopez had roles in the 2021 films "Concrete Rose" and "Blood Bound."

"Rocky was a man of many facets, but he was best known for three traits: he was selfless, loving, and funny. His selflessness shone through in his actions, always prioritizing others' needs before his own," his obit read. "His love was boundless, encompassing his family, friends, and even strangers. And his sense of humor was contagious, bringing laughter and joy to every room he entered."

Shortly after he died, artists came together to paint a massive mural honoring Lopez in Elgin.

Johnny Lujack, 98, Notre Dame and Bears football player

Johnny Lujack, a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who led Notre Dame to three national championships in the 1940s and went on to play four seasons for the Chicago Bears, died in Florida on July 25.

A native of Connellsville, Pennsylvania, Lujack was a star on the Connellsville High School football team from 1939 to 1941 – and was also senior class president and valedictorian, according to the Heisman website. He lettered in baseball, football, basketball, and track.

While townspeople hoped he would go to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Lujack had his heart set on Notre Dame. He took over as quarterback for the Fighting Irish his sophomore year in 1943, and led Notre Dame to three national titles.

Lujack posted a 20-1-1 record as starting quarterback for coach Frank Leahy. He played for the Irish in 1942 and '43, served two years in the Navy during World War II, and returned to Notre Dame for the 1946 and '47 seasons.

Lujack is considered one of the greatest Notre Dame players of all time, having won the Heisman in 1947 and led the Irish to national titles in 1943, 1946, and 1947.  

While Lujack had plenty of offensive highlights at Notre Dame, he is best remembered for a play he made as a defensive back in an era when players stayed on the field for nearly every play.

A standing-room-only crowd of about 75,000 packed the old Yankee Stadium in 1946 to see No. 1 Army — the two-time defending national champions — face then-rival Notre Dame, which was ranked No. 2. Lujack made the game-saving tackle against Doc Blanchard in a 0-0 tie. That contest is frequently referred to as the game of the century.

Lujack was The Associated Press athlete of the year in 1947, when he was a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears. He played four seasons for the Bears and led the team in scoring each year – tying a record with eight interceptions as a rookie and throwing for a record 468 yards in one 1949 game.

After retiring in 1952, Lujack worked as a backfield coach for Notre Dame. He went on to run a car dealership in Davenport, Iowa, until he retired in 1988.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Andrew McKenna Sr., 93, former McDonald's chairman, Bears part-owner

Former McDonald's chairman and Chicago Bears part-owner and director Andrew McKenna Sr. died Feb. 7.

The grandson of a blacksmith, McKenna was born on the city's South Side. He attended Leo Catholic High School.

McKenna went on to earn a bachelor's degree in business administration and marketing from the University of Notre Dame and a J.D. from the DePaul University College of Law, the Bears noted in a news release.

McKenna was chairman of McDonald's Corporation from 2004 until 2016, and also served on the Bears' board of directors.

McKenna was also on the boards of the Aon Corp. (1970-2012), First Chicago NBD (1991-1999), Dean Foods (1982-2000), Tribune Company, (1982-2002), Click Commerce (2000-2006), and Skyline Corporation (1971-2014). He served as chairman of the University of Notre Dame's board of trustees from 1992 to 2000 – and as vice chairman for six years before that.

He was also a director of numerous other Chicago institutions – including the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, the Big Shoulders Fund, the Ireland Economic Advisory Board, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Civic Committee, and the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, the Bears noted.

McKenna was a part-owner and director of the Bears at the time of his passing, which came just after Kevin Warren was announced as the new president and chief executive officer of the team.

Bears Chairman George H. McCaskey said of McKenna at the time of his passing: "Few people have had a larger impact on our great city. Andy spent his life dedicated to institutions across sports, media, museums, academia, health care and more sharing his insights and leadership. His guidance helped us make sound business decisions, most recently with our selection of Kevin Warren as our next President & CEO. We are grateful for his many contributions to the Bears and his wisdom will be missed. Our prayers are with his family."

McKenna had also chaired the White Sox baseball club from 1975 until 1981 and had been chairman of the board of the Cubs from 1981 until 1984. He is the only person to have been chairman of both Chicago Major League Baseball teams.

He also joined the board of the Museum of Science and Industry in 1989, and served as chairman of the board from 1996 until 1999. He remained a trustee after stepping down from the chairmanship position.

"His guidance helped MSI make sound business decisions and kept us focused on advancing education, youth development, and entrepreneurship-causes he held dear," MSI president and chief executive officer Chevy Humphrey said in a statement. "Andrew was a guiding light for MSI and for all of Chicago."

McKenna's obit said he mentored generations of business and community leaders in Chicago.

Humphrey concurred with a description of McKenna in Crain's Chicago Business as a "consummate networker" and "inexhaustible dynamo." 

McKenna's son, Andrew McKenna Jr., was chairman of the Illinois Republican Party from 2005 until 2009.

Lena McLin, 95, music teacher to the stars

Chaka Khan, Jennifer Hudson, Mandy Patinkin – all are native Chicagoans, but they have something else in common. They and many others were students of the Rev. Dr. Lena McLin, an extraordinary composer and music educator, who died Oct. 3.

McLin had enormous pride in all the students she helped guide to musical excellence.

"I'm just happy to see them out there, and I'm happy to see them going on, and I thank God for allowing me to be some help in directing them," she told CBS 2's late anchorman and reporter Harry Porterfield in 2013 in a "Someone You Should Know" profile.

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, McLin was sent to Chicago to live with her uncle, Father of Gospel Music Thomas A. Dorsey, at the age of 5, according to the HistoryMakers. As a youngster, she served an accompanist for her uncle's choir at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Bronzeville.

McLin earned a bachelor's degree in music from Spelman College in 1951, and also studied at at the American Conservatory of Music, Roosevelt University, and Chicago State University, according to the HistoryMakers.

McLin taught music for well over a half century – many of those years at Kenwood Academy High School, where she built a powerhouse music program. After she retired from the classroom, she continued to teach in her home.

"She just allows me to basically flourish as a singer," one of her students, R.J. Johnson, said in 2013. "Without her and her technique, I don't think my voice would be as developed as it is now."

McLin was also a minister. Her spiritual foundation infused her teaching and her approach to countless students.

"I'm just a strong believer in right, and a strong believer in love, and a strong believer in discipline, and a strong believer in understanding," she told Porterfield. "I think that comes together for a wonderful balance, because everybody I see, I see good in them."

McLin's students have excelled in a variety of musical genres; – from the blues and R&B, to jazz and classical music.

"Everything I know about singing, I learned from her," said legendary blues singer Deitra Farr.

CBS 2's Jim Williams was a student at Kenwood when McLin was there. Although he wasn't a musician, he said she took an interest in him simply because he was a student, and she was always generous with her advice and encouragement.

Contributing: Jim Williams

Joey Meyer, 74, longtime DePaul basketball coach

Joey Meyer, who played basketball at DePaul University and coached the Blue Demons to seven NCAA Tournament appearances in 13 seasons, died on Dec. 29.

Meyer, a Chicago native, died in west suburban of Hinsdale surrounded by family, DePaul said in a release. The school later said his cause of death would remain private.

Joey Meyer played for his father, Ray, for three seasons from 1968 through 1971, averaging 16.4 points in 75 games for DePaul. The guard was selected by the Buffalo Braves in the 18th round of the 1971 NBA Draft, but never appeared in a game in the league.

Meyer served as an assistant for his father for 11 seasons before taking over when Ray retired after coaching DePaul. Ray Meyer's run as coach lasted from 1942 until 1984. 

Joey Meyer was an assistant to his father when DePaul lost to Larry Bird and Indiana State University in the Final Four in 1979, The Athletic reported.

As head coach, Joey Meyer got the Blue Demons into the NCAA tourney in each of his first five seasons. They reached the Sweet 16 in 1986 and 1987.

As recalled by the Athletic, the Blue Demons' 1986-87 team was best – led by senior forward Dallas Comegys and sophomore point guard Rod Strickland as they went 28-3 in the regular season. DePaul went on to lose to Louisiana State University in the Midwest regional semifinal of the NCAA Tournament, but Meyer was named the Chevrolet Coach of the Year, the Athletic reported.

In April 1997, Meyer was fired after the team went 3-23, the Athletic reported.

Meyer went 231-158 in his 13 seasons as DePaul's head coach. Some of Meyer's top players included Strickland, David Booth, and Tom Kleinschmidt.

Following his time at DePaul, Meyer coached in the NBA Developmental League – taking the helm for the Asheville Altitude, the Tulsa 66ers, and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Meyer also worked as a regional scout for the Los Angeles Clippers.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Newton N. Minow, 97, former FCC chief, public TV advocate

Newton Norman Minow, a Chicagoan who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a "vast wasteland," died May 6.

Though Minow remained in the FCC post just two years, he left a permanent stamp on the broadcasting industry through government steps to foster satellite communications, the passage of a law mandating UHF reception on TV sets, and his outspoken advocacy for quality in television.

"My faith is in the belief that this country needs and can support many voices of television — and that the more voices we hear, the better, the richer, the freer we shall be," Minow once said. "After all, the airways belong to the people."

Minow was born in Milwaukee, and attended Northwestern University after a stint in the U.S. Army during World War II. He earned a bachelor's degree from Northwestern in 1949, and a J.D. in 1950 from what was then the Northwestern University School of Law, according to Northwestern. He went on to join the board of trustees at Northwestern in 1975, and became a life trustee in 1987.

Minow was appointed as FCC chief by President John F. Kennedy in early 1961. He had initially come to know the Kennedys in the 1950s as an aide to Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, the Democrats' presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956.

Minow laid down his famous challenge to TV executives on May 9, 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, urging them to sit down and watch their station for a full day, "without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you."

"I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland," he told them. "You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials — many screaming, cajoling and offending."

The speech caused a sensation. "Vast wasteland" became a catch phrase. Jimmy Durante opened an NBC special by saying, "Da next hour will be dedicated to upliftin' da quality of television. ... At least, Newt, we're tryin'."

For the criticism over his speech, Minow said he didn't support censorship, preferring exhortation and measures to broaden public choices. But he also said a broadcasting license was "an enormous gift" from the government that brought with it a responsibility to the public.

Among the new laws during Minow's tenure were the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962, which required that TV sets pick up UHF as well as VHF broadcasts – opening up TV channels numbered above 13 for widespread viewing. Congress also passed a bill that provided funds for educational television, and measures to foster communications satellites.

Children's programming was a particular interest of Minow, a father of three, who told broadcasters the few good children's shows were "drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. ... Search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide so many hours each and every day."

Minow resigned as FCC chief in May 1963 to become executive vice president and general counsel for Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. in Chicago.

In 1965, Minow returned to his law practice in Chicago, and later served as board member at PBS, CBS Inc., and the advertising company Foote Cone & Belding Communications Inc. He also served as director of the Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies of Northwestern University.

Minow also gave Barack Obama a summer job at the law firm, where the future president met his wife, Michelle Robinson. Minow also was one of Obama's earliest supporters when the then-Illinois senator considered running for president, daughter Nell Minow said.

In 2016, Minow sat down with CBS 2 Political Reporter Derrick Blakley at his Gold Coast home. Blakley asked him, is television still a vast wasteland?

"No," Minow said at the time. "People now have choice. That was our main philosophy: to enlarge choice."

That same year, Minow received the Medal of Freedom from President Obama.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Laurence Msall, 61, Civic Federation president

Respected and oft-quoted public budget and fiscal policy expert Laurence Msall died unexpectedly on Feb. 4.

Msall was the longtime president of the Civic Federation, and served as an aide to two Illinois governors.

"As the business community's voice for fiscal responsibility, government efficiency, and accountability, Laurence was an indefatigable fixture in the media and legislative bodies throughout Illinois, helping to explain complex government finance issues and pushing government leaders to choose sustainable fiscal policies with a long-term perspective," Msall's obit read.

Msall was born in Chicago, and attended St. Ignatius College Prep for high school. He attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois for college, and went on to serve on the board of trustees there.

After graduation, Msall moved to Springfield, where he worked for then-Gov. Jim Thompson in the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, according to his obit. He joined the staff of the Commercial Club of Chicago as vice president in 1990, working with the chief executive officers of major Chicago corporations to promote regional economic development, his obit read.

Msall earned a J.D. from Loyola University of Law in 1992. In 1999, then-Gov. George Ryan brought him on as senior advisor for economic development, where he oversaw 11 Illinois development- and infrastructure-related agencies, according to his obit.

In January 2002, Msall became president of the Civic Federation, an organization promoting fiscal responsibility and government accountability. He worked to make the organization "an indispensable source of reliable fiscal information and government process recommendations to public officials, the media, and the general public," his obit said.

As Civic Federation president, Msall made appearances on the news on CBS 2 and other stations to weigh in on complex budget and fiscal issues.

He was also known as a mentor to a generation's worth of Civic Federation staff, according to his obit.

Beth Murphy, 68, Murphy's Bleachers Owner

Beth Murphy, the owner of the beloved Murphy's Bleachers bar in Wrigleyville, died April 24.

Murphy is also remembered as the spokeswoman for the Wrigleyville Rooftops Association as they battled the Cubs amid ballpark renovations a decade ago.

Murphy's Bleachers, at the southeast corner of Waveland and Sheffield avenues across the street from the rear of the ballpark, began in the 1930s at as Ernie's Bleachers. The first iteration of the bar sold hot dogs and beer by the pail just after Prohibition, Murphy's Bleachers says on its history page.

In 1965, the bar changed names to Ray's Bleachers when original owner Ernie Pareti sold it to Ray Meyers.

Jim Murphy, a former Chicago Police officer, bought the bar and named it Murphy's Bleachers in 1980. Famous Cubs players past were regulars – including Mark Grace, Rick Sutcliffe, Keith Moreland, Jody Davis, and Randy Meyers, the bar said.

Jim Murphy died in 2003, at which point Beth Murphy, his widow, took over as the owner and manager.

Those who worked with Ms. Murphy at the Wrigleyville hotspot said she was the heart and soul of the operation.

"The Cubs to a point, but Beth Murphy meant so much to the neighborhood and the community. I've worked here for 17 years. I've known Beth for about 25 years, and you will not find a better woman. It's like missing a family member – a close family member," Murphy's Bleachers general manager Freddy Fagenholtz told CBS 2 in April. "We're going to keep serving cold beer and good food, and keep her around."

The Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce honored Ms. Murphy in a Facebook post as a "beloved advocate for the neighborhood."

"As developments came in, Beth and her late husband were the first to the table to welcome in new neighbors and made sure that everyone around the neighborhood felt that Wrigleyville was a place for everyone," the chamber said in April. "She fought hard for small business owners as changes began happening to the neighborhood, and Beth will forever be an integral part of the neighborhood's history and future because of her tireless work to preserve the history of Wrigleyville."

In 2013, Murphy was the spokesperson for rooftop owners who took on the Cubs over new signage that might block their view of the field. Speaking to the Mully and Hanley Show on The Score Sports Radio 670 that year, Murphy had a message for anyone who claimed the rooftop owners were leeching off the Cubs' product.

"We're not stealing their product because we pay them," Murphy told The Mully and Hanley Show. "I don't think it's very much different from if you get the Major League package from Comcast or wherever and people come to your bar to watch the Blue Jays."

Nine years earlier, the Cubs and the rooftop owners had entered a 20-year revenue-sharing agreement in which the rooftops agreed to kick back 17 percent of their revenue in exchange for a Cubs' promise to not change Wrigley Field in a way that would block the rooftops' view. Plans for the new signage came into conflict with the contract.

But clashes aside, the Cubs honored Murphy with a display of her name on the Wrigley Field marquee after her passing. The Athletic reported the Cubs also observed a moment of silence for Murphy during a game after Murphy died.

Mike Nussbaum, 99, actor

Chicago stage actor Mike Nussbaum died Dec. 23, just six days short of what would have been his 100th birthday.

A Chicago native, Nussbaum grew up in the Albany Park neighborhood and attended Von Steuben High School, according to the Newberry Library. During World War II, Nussbaum was the typist who sent out the news of the Nazi surrender in Paris in 1945, and signed the cable "Eisenhower" alongside his own name, according to Theater Mania.

Nussbaum got involved with community theatre while working for his brother-in-law's business as an exterminator, according to the library.

He went on to perform in several well-received shows at the Hull House Theatre under director Bob Sickinger, the library said. As his theatre career expanded and he starred in more roles, Nussbaum sold his share of the extermination business and moved full time into acting, the library said.

Nussbaum in particular is known for collaborating with playwright David Mamet – whom he met in the 60s. Nussbaum was the first actor to appear in starting roles in famous Mamet productions, such as Teach in "American Buffalo," and George Aaronow in "Glengarry Glen Ross," the library said.

He also toured and directed around Chicago. He famously played Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier for its season opener in 2005.

Nussbaum also toured the East Coast, Russia, and Japan performing Chekhov plays, and performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, England, according to the Goodman Theatre.

On the big screen, Nussbaum appeared as book publisher Bob Drimmer in "Fatal Attraction," Joey in Mamet's "House of Games," a school principal in "Field of Dreams," and Gentle Rosenburg the Arquillian jeweler in "Men In Black."

Nussbaum was also a founding member of the Evanston Theatre Company, which became the Northlight Theatre. In 1974, Nussbaum starred in the first Northlight production – Tom Stoppard's "Jumpers," directed by Frank Galati who also died this year. Nussbaum was also the first artistic director of the Northlight.

Nussbaum appeared in productions at other A-list Chicago stage venues – including stagings of Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross" in both the Goodman and Steppenwolf theatres, as well as "Death of a Maiden," "El Salvador," "The Infidel," and "Death of a Salesman" at the Steppenwolf.

At the Goodman, Nussbaum appeared in the 2013 production of "Smokefall" as he neared the age of 90. He was also onstage at the Northlight as Rudy in "Curve of Departure" in 2018, nearing the age of 95.

Speaking to Regine Schlesinger of WBBM Newsradio in 2012, Nussbaum explained the appeal of working as a stage actor in Chicago.

"People don't compete with each other here; they help each other here, unlike Hollywood or New York where it is important that you be seen and singled out and praised," Nussbaum said at the time. "What happens to the rest of the people or show – immaterial, as long as you do well. And that has not been the ethic in Chicago."

As of a few years ago, Nussbaum was noted as the oldest actor in the Actors' Equity Association.

Alice Palmer, 83, former Illinois state senator

Alice Palmer, a former Illinois state senator who helped launch former President Barack Obama's political career, died May 25.

A native of Indianapolis, Palmer graduated from Indiana University in 1965 and worked as a teacher in her hometown – but later moved to Chicago to work at Crane Junior College, the old name for Malcolm X College, according to the HistoryMakers.

Palmer received a master's degree from Roosevelt University and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, where she authored two books on adult literacy and tutored at the Black House – a space for Black student life at Northwestern, according to the HistoryMakers. She then became associate dean and director of African American Student Affairs – a position she held for five years, according to the HistoryMakers.

Palmer also served as the national voter education director for a citizen action group, and then became the founding director of the Metro YMCA Youth and Government Program in 1986, according to the HistoryMakers. She was also executive director of Chicago Cities in Schools, according to the HistoryMakers.

Palmer was also involved in the anti-Apartheid movement in Chicago – holding demonstrations in front of the South African Consulate on Michigan Avenue to urge the city to divest from South Africa in the 1980s, she recalled to Columbia College.

In June 1991, Palmer was appointed to Illinois Senate to replace state Sen. Richard Newhouse, who was retiring from his 13th District seat. In 1995, Palmer announced plans to run for the 2nd Congressional District seat from which Rep. Mel Reynolds – who had resigned after being convicted of sex crimes. She also said she would leave the state Senate, and gave Obama – a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School – her blessing to run for her old seat.

Palmer lost the 1996 Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District seat to Jesse Jackson Jr. She decided she would run for reelection for her state Senate seat after all, and asked Obama to end his campaign. He refused to do so, and Palmer withdrew. Obama won the seat, and held it for eight years before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004.

Palmer backed Hillary Clinton over Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.

After leaving the state Senate, Palmer became an associate professor in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Joe Pepitone, 82, Cubs baseball player

While Brooklyn native Joe Pepitone is likely best remembered for his time with the New York Yankees in the 1960s, he spent some time afterward playing for the Cubs – alongside the likes of Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Glenn Beckert, and Randy Hundley. He died March 13.

Pepitone was also notorious for his flamboyant personality, hairpieces, and penchant for nightlife, CBS New York reported.

Born in Brooklyn, Pepitone went to Manual Training High School, signed with the Yankees in 1958, and made his big-league debut in 1962. He helped the Yankees to their second straight World Series title with a team led by Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Elston Howard.

Pepitone drew attention for his off-the-field conduct. In a time when most players were staid and conformist, Pepitone was thought to be the first to bring a hair dryer into the clubhouse – an artifact later given to the Baseball Reliquary and displayed at the Burbank Central Library in California during a 2004 exhibition: "The Times They Were A-Changin': Baseball in the Age of Aquarius."

"Things were a little different back then, sure," Pepitone told Rolling Stone in 2015. "When I brought the hair drier into the clubhouse, they thought I was a hairdresser or something; they didn't know what the hell was going on, you know? I'd walk in with a black Nehru jacket on, beads, my hair slicked back; it was ridiculous. I think aout it now, and I laugh."

Pepitone's 1975 autobiography, "Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud," detailed nightlife with Frank Sinatra, smoking marijuana with Mantle and Whitey Ford, and Pepitone's jailing at Rikers Island.

The Yankees traded Pepitone to the Houston Astros in 1969, and the Cubs bought his contract in 1970. As baseball blogger Mark Tomasik recalled earlier this year, Cubs manager Leo Durocher put Pepitone at center field – and he hit 12 home runs and had 44 RBI in 22 at-bats during the 1970 season.

Pepitone went on mainly to play first base for the Cubs in 1971, while hitting .307, Tomasik wrote.

Pepitone also brought his flamboyance with him to Chicago – opening a bar called Joe Pepitone's Thing at 12 E. Division St. in the Rush/Division Street nightlife district. As quoted from Pepitone's autobiography in Tomasik's blog, Pepitone wrote that he approached Santo and Santo's business partner to be partners in the bar – and they declined, though they did arrange a $40,000 loan.

"The club was small, long and narrow, and located on Division Street, just off Rush, in the swingingest section of Chicago. We had no food and no live music, just a jukebox," Pepitone wrote. "The bartenders and waitresses were all attractive girls. They were not burdened by a lot of cumbersome clothing. We drew a terrific athlete crowd, and the lounge quickly earned a reputation as a place where stewardesses hung out."

Pepitone was with the Cubs until 1973. He finished his career with the Atlanta Braves and the Yakult Atoms of Japan's Central League in 1973. Throughout his career, Pepitone hit .258 with 219 homers and 721 RBIs.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner brought Pepitone back as a minor league hitting instructor in 1980 and promoted him to the big league team two years later. Pepitone said he would even trim his wigs to comply with the Yankees grooming policy.

Contributing: CBS New York

Gary Peters, 85, White Sox pitcher

Gary Peters, a two-time All-Star pitcher with the Chicago White Sox, died Jan. 26.

Peters was born in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and played basketball in high school in nearby Mercer, according to a biography by Mark Armour of the Society of American Baseball Research.

There was no baseball team at the school, and Peters' only organized baseball experience as a teen was a year of American Legion ball and semipro ball on the sandlots, Armour wrote.

But after Peters graduated from high school, a White Sox scout took him for a tryout at the old Comiskey Park – and he was signed for a contract to go to college and play after his spring classes ended, Armour wrote.

Peters began his professional career in the Class D Nebraska State League in Holdredge, Nebraska, and was named the outstanding left-handed pitcher in the league – leading in innings pitched and strikeouts, the latter at 142, Armour wrote.

Peters played minor-league ball in Dubuque, Iowa; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Davenport, Iowa, before the White Sox sent him to their top minor-league club – Indianapolis in the Triple-A American Association – in 1959, Armour wrote. He pitched a no-hit, no-run game in Minneapolis, and pitched a few big-league games during the Sox' pennant-winning 1959 season, Armour wrote.

Peters played in the minors for a couple more years with a few Major League appearances with the Sox in 1960 and 1961, before making the team for the Sox in the spring for the first time in 1962, Armour wrote. He ended up back in the minors again by May of that year, but made the team again in 1963 – when things really took off, Armour wrote.

As RIP Baseball reported, Peters had his first major-league start on May 6, 1963, against the Kansas City A's – and gave up four hits and one run as the Sox won. He soon moved into the regular starting rotation – and while his record was 5-5 after the Sox lost to the New York Yankees on July 4, he won all but one of his next 12 starts after that in '63, RIP Baseball reported. He won an AL Rookie of the Year Award in 1963, and was a top-10 finalist in the MVP vote, the website reported.

Peters had 20 wins in 1964, and scored a two-run homer as a pinch-hitter during extra innings in a game against Kansas City that year, RIP baseball reported. He was named to the AL All-Star team in 1964, though he did not appear in the game, the website reported.

Peters led the AL in ERA in 1963 and 1966, and in wins in 1964.

In 1967, Peters pitched three perfect innings in the 1967 All-Star Game – striking out Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, and Dick Allen – though the NL won the game in extra innings.

Peters was traded to the Boston Red Sox in December 1969, and played with them for his last three years of his playing career.

He was named to the White Sox All-Century Team – as one of nine pitchers representing the first century of the team's existence – in 2000, Armour wrote.

As a pitcher, Peters ranks eighth in White Sox history, with 1,098 strikeouts.

James "Pate" Philip, 93, former Illinois Senate President

James Peyton Philip, known as Pate – a longtime state lawmaker who served a decade as Illinois State Senate president – died Nov. 21.

Philip was born and raised in west suburban Elmhurst, and attended Kansas State University – though he did not graduate. He was drafted into the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War, and spent his tour in the U.S., according to an Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library biography.

After his discharge, Philip began a long career with the Pepperidge Farm bakery company, eventually taking on the role of district sales manager. He was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1966, and to the Illinois Senate in 1974 – representing what was then the Republican stronghold of DuPage County.

In 1981, Philip's fellow state Senate Republicans chose him as minority leader – and became Senate President when the GOP won control of the legislative body in November 1992.

"He consistently fought for fiscal responsibility, was a traditional conservative on such issues as the Equal Rights Amendment, gun control, crime. and the death penalty, and was a strong advocate for the interests of the Chicago suburbs and downstate," the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library recalls. "He was vocal in his claim that Chicago 'always got more than its share' of the state's resources."

Philip was also credited with pushing through the Chicago school reform plan that gave Mayor Richard M. Daley direct control over the Chicago Public Schools in the mid-1990s.

Philip was not popular with some elected officials and other movers and shakers in Chicago. As quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times, the late columnist Steve Neal wrote that Mayor Jane Byrne called Philip a "Chicago hater," Mayor Harold Washington called him an example of "the Peter Principle Gone Wild," and columnist Mike Royko called him a "polyester jerk."

Philip also gained a reputation, as noted by multiple sources, as a "straight-talking Marine," and was criticized for some of his remarks. For one – as noted by Jennifer Halperin in a March 1993 edition of the periodical "Illinois Issues" – Philip was accused of racism and was the subject of a protest after he spoke in support of ending state-funded programs for students who did not speak English by saying, "Let 'em learn to speak English."

But despite his bluntness in many of his statements, and accusations of racism and sexism by critics, Philip maintained consistent support of his Republican caucus and worked together across the aisle with Democrats throughout his tenure, the presidential library reported.

He was also courted by national Republicans to deliver the vote in Illinois, the Sun-Times quoted Neal from a 1990 column.

Philip retired in 2003 after a decade as Senate President, after the Democrats won control of the body again.

Bill Pinkney, 87, mariner

Bill Pinkney, a sailor and a Chicagoan whose trip around the world made history and inspired many, died Aug. 31.

In the early 1990s, Pinkney took to the sea alone – and his journey fascinated thousands of children who followed his every nautical mile. Pinkney, from Chicago's South Side, became the first African American to sail around the world solo via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and Cape Horn in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in southern Chile. It was achievement of endurance and courage.

"Life – you have to write that yourself," Pinkney said at the time.

Pinkney wrote a book, "Captain Bill Pinkney's Journey," about his adventures. And two years ago, when he and CBS 2's Jim Williams spoke, Pinkney marveled at the swift passage of time.

"I think of the kids that were reading my book in the first grade when I finished," Capt. Pinkney said, "and some of them have kids of their own at this point. I mean, it's frightening."

As noted by the HistoryMakers, Capt. Pinkney was born in Chicago, and served eight years in the Navy before becoming involved in the cosmetics industry – eventually becoming a marketing manager for Revlon in 1973.

Pinkney also served as director of marketing for the cosmetics firm the Johnson Products Company, and became director of marketing for the Chicago Department of Human Services in 1980, according to the HistoryMakers.

While Teddy Seymour has the distinction of being the first African American sailor to circumnavigate the globe – via the Panama and Suez canals – Pinkney was the first to do so by way of the capes.

After his solo trip on his cutter The Commitment, which began in 1990 and lasted 22 months, Pinkney later set sail on the vessel Sortilege to retrace the slave trade routes of the Middle Passage, according to the HistoryMakers. PBS joined him to create a television special on this voyage, for which teachers from around the country joined him.

Pinkney also raced in the Mackinac Races on Lake Michigan, and served on the boards of the Mystic Seaport Museum, the National Maritime Historical Society, and the American Sail Training Association.

Famed restauranteur Ina Pinkney, Bill's former wife – with whom he remained close – was his biggest champion.

"Bill was, and is, a remarkable human being – and he's spent all of his time, when he came home, talking to children about following a dream," Ina Pinkney said, "and I think his name needs to be part of history of Chicago for all he did."

Harry Porterfield, 95, CBS 2 anchorman

Harry William Porterfield Jr., an iconic news anchor and reporter who spent nearly 51 years on television in Chicago – including nearly 30 altogether at CBS 2 – died Oct. 23 after a short illness.

Porterfield was born in Saginaw, Michigan, on Aug. 29, 1928. As noted by the HistoryMakers, he graduated from Arthur Hill High School in 1946, and received an A.S. from Bay City Junior College in Michigan.

Porterfield enrolled at the University of Michigan, but was drafted into the U.S. Army – serving a tour in Germany and attaining the rank of sergeant, the HistoryMakers noted. He graduated from Eastern Michigan University at Ypsilanti with a bachelor of science in chemistry in 1954.

Porterfield began his broadcast career in radio in 1955 – working as a jazz disc jockey at WKNX radio in Saginaw. He also worked as a continuity editor, cameraman, and stagehand at sister station WKNX-TV, the HistoryMakers noted.

Porterfield first joined CBS 2 as a newswriter in 1964. He told the HistoryMakers he was the only Black writer at the station at the time, and one of a few African Americans in Chicago broadcasting at all.

Soon enough, Porterfield – with his warmth, gravitas, and rich voice – was destined to be on the air. He first began going on reporting assignments, and in 1968 began anchoring the CBS 2's "Saturday Noon News," he recalled to the HistoryMakers.

Porterfield soon became the solo anchor of CBS 2's weekend evening newscasts. In 1977, while anchoring weekends, Porterfield created his own segment called "Someone You Should Know", featuring ordinary Chicagoans doing extraordinary things.

Some of the people featured in "Someone You Should Know" had made a difference in their community or for a cause. Others had a unique achievement, an obscure hobby, or an unexpected talent.

In 1978, following the departure of anchorman Mort Crim, Porterfield became the co-anchor of CBS 2's hour-long 6 p.m. weekday newscast with Bill Kurtis beside him at the anchor desk, John Coughlin on weather, and Johnny Morris on sports. When Kurtis left for a few years beginning in 1982 and went to New York to anchor the CBS Morning News – which we now call CBS Mornings – Porterfield was joined on the anchor desk at 6 p.m. by new CBS 2 anchorman Don Craig, previously an anchor at NBC 5. The newscast held a solid number one in the ratings.

Porterfield was also a news anchor for the daily CBS 2 news and talk program "Noonbreak," alongside talk show host Lee Phillip and weatherman Harry Volkman.

In addition, Porterfield was the host of the public affairs show, "Channel 2: The People," and one of four hosts who rotated in pairs for the Sunday evening news magazine show "Two on Two" – along with Craig, Susan Anderson, and the late Bob Wallace. Just a few of Porterfield's many features on "Two on Two" that are archived online include a visit to a reunion concert by the Ramsey Lewis Trio, a look at the Hubbard Street Dance Company in practice and action, and a historical look back at the days when Sears, Roebuck sold kit houses by mail order.

In the fall of 1985, station management made an ill-advised move, pulling Porterfield from the anchor desk upon Kurtis' return from CBS News in New York. At a time when there were few Black anchors in Chicago, the African American community was incensed. Rainbow PUSH – then called Operation PUSH – led a boycott of CBS 2.

Meanwhile, Porterfield switched stations to ABC 7, where he remained for the next 24 years as a reporter and fill-in anchor. "Someone You Should Know" also continued at Channel 7.

While working at ABC 7 in 1993, Porterfield got his law degree from DePaul University.

In 2009 – to the joy and applause of all of us who were on the staff at the time – Porterfield returned to CBS 2, where he anchored the 11 a.m. news alongside Roseanne Tellez and brought back his "Someone You Should Know" series. He remained with CBS 2 for his second run until the end of 2015.

Porterfield was also a consummate jazz violinist, and played piano and guitar. He was a board member of the Jazz Institute of Chicago, and played violin with the Chicago Bar Association and the "Do-It-Yourself Messiah" in Chicago – performing Handel's Messiah along with a large group of volunteer musicians and vocalists.

Many also have stories of running into Porterfield in person at Andy's Jazz Club in River North, where he was a regular for many years.

To be certain, Harry Porterfield is someone we all should know.

Contributing: Jim Williams

Dave Roberts, 64, Chicago nightclub DJ

Dave Roberts, a DJ who was an icon in Chicago's nightlife scene for more than 40 years, died Feb. 6.

Roberts had suffered from a bacterial infection that had spread to his spine, bloodstream, and heart, according to Late Bar, the Avondale nightclub that he helped open.

Chicago writer and performer Dave Awl wrote in a Facebook post that Roberts attended the Chicago Public High School for Metropolitan Studies – also known as the "school without walls," – and graduated in 1977.

Awl quoted one of Roberts' own Facebook posts about what happened next and led Roberts on a path to the underground nightlife scene: "When I was in my teens I was bummed because I thought I had missed out on all the great music. I was strictly into 50's & 60's music (and was made fun of for it). In the summer of '77 I went to London. I am and always will be an Anglophile. Everything from Shakespeare to Dickens to Holmes and The Beatles. I was in London, going to record shops, pubs and shoe stores when I kept noticing flyers for bands I had never heard of. I decided to check out a few of them. It totally changed my life. I saw the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam, The Stranglers, The Damned. I am who I am now because of that summer."

Back in Chicago, Roberts spun his first DJ set at La Mere Vipere at 2132 N. Halsted St. in Lincoln Park – which was known as the first punk dance club in the U.S., Awl wrote. Roberts soon scored a regular DJ gig at the original location of the punk rock club Exit, at 1653 N. Wells St. in Old Town, Awl wrote.

Roberts also worked as a multi-image photographer in the animation industry during that period, Awl wrote.

In 1994, Roberts began the underground dance night Planet Earth Chicago at the old Club 950 Lucky Number, 950 W. Wrightwood Ave., Awl wrote.

The Thursday night Planet Earth event was a new wave night, but Awl described it specifically as "a carefully mixed cocktail of spiky new wave, early punk, proto-punk, 2-tone ska, synthpop, new romantics, neo-rockabilly, and unclassifiable oddball pop." Roberts' collaborator and partner, Kristine Hengl, later joined him in the DJ booth for Planet Earth, Awl wrote.

In 2000, Planet Earth moved on from Club 950 Lucky Number, which closed later that same year. Planet Earth later found its way to Neo, the iconic nightspot at 2350 N. Clark St. where David Bowie had once hung out. Roberts and Planet Earth occupied the DJ booth at Neo for eight years, Awl wrote.

Roberts also spun at the Holiday Club, 4000 N. Sheridan Rd.

Roberts and Hengl opened Late Bar, at 3534 W. Belmont Ave. in the Avondale neighborhood, in 2009, Awl wrote. Planet Earth continued on Saturday nights, and was interrupted only by COVID-19 pandemic closures, Awl wrote.

Renault Robinson, 80, Chicago Police officer and CHA chairman

Renault Robinson, a Chicago Police officer who took on a mission to reform the department and later became chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority, died July 8.

A lifelong Chicagoan, Robinson graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1960, according to the HistoryMakers. After attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for college, he became a Chicago Police officer in 1964.

A November 1970 Time Magazine article reported that until the spring of 1968, Robinson was considered a "model policeman" with a 97 percent efficiency rating and more than 50 citations for outstanding work. But that same year, Robinson and other Black officers founded the Afro-American Patrolmen's League – dedicated, Time reported, to improving relations between police and Chicago's Black communities and getting more Black police officers into policymaking roles.

From that point until 1970, Time reported, Robinson was suspended five times, and was brought up before the Police Board on claims ranging from sleeping on duty to insubordination. He was also subjected to telephone threats, the magazine reported.

Famously in 1973, Robinson was assigned to a beat that was limited to patrolling the alley under the 'L' tracks behind the old Chicago Police Headquarters at 1121 S. State St. – in what he called retaliation after standing up against some officers who had beaten a Black man outside a downtown bar, and attending a Community Control of Police meeting in which the Black Panthers were involved.

Nonetheless, Robinson remained on the force and kept speaking out. He was interviewed several times by Studs Terkel, and was featured in Terkel's famous 1974 book, "Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do." In the interview for the book, Robinson did not hold back on his descriptions of racism he encountered from some white police officers.

"The job makes those who aren't really bad bigots worse after a while. You could take a tender white boy, give him a badge and a gun, and man! he becomes George Wallace over night," Robinson was quoted in "Working." "You have to change the rationale by which they work. We must have a system where they get points for helping people rather than hurting them."

In 1970, Robinson and other officers filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination in hiring and promotion within the CPD. The U.S. Department of Justice joined the case three years later, and a federal judge went on to rule in their favor.

Robinson was appointed to a seat on the Chicago Housing Authority Board by Mayor Jane Byrne in 1979. In 1983, Mayor Harold Washington appointed Robinson as chairman of the CHA – a role in which he was credited with reinventing high-rise public housing developments, including the construction of mixed-income complexes. But Robinson's time at the CHA proved to be tumultuous – marked by administrative problems and allegations of nepotism in hiring for key positions, according to published reports.

Robinson resigned as head of the CHA at the beginning of 1987, as Mayor Washington was campaigning for a new term.

Robinson later moved to the private sector – working as vice president of ASI Personnel Service in 1989, and founding the Renault Robinson Staffing temporary staffing agency in 2000, according to the HistoryMakers.

Matt Rodriguez, 87, former Chicago Police superintendent

Matt Rodriguez, who spent more than 30 years on the Chicago Police force and became the CPD's first Hispanic superintendent, died Aug. 30.

Rodriguez started out as a Chicago Police officer in 1959, and worked his way up through the ranks. He served in patrol, criminal investigations, organized crime, vice control, and other divisions of the Chicago Police Department.

Rodriguez served as deputy superintendent of technical services for 12 years before he was appointed police superintendent by Mayor Richard M. Daley in April 1992, becoming the first Hispanic CPD superintendent.

Rodriguez is credited with initiating the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy for community policing in 1993.

In 1997, scandals rocked the Chicago Police Department – including the indictment of seven officers from the Austin (15th) District on corruption charges, the Chicago Reader reported. Meanwhile, the Fraternal Order of Police issued a vote of no confidence against Rodriguez in November of that year amid several controversies – including the handling of a brutality case.

The rank-and-file also took issue with the decision to terminate Officer Jim Mullen, who had been shot and paralyzed, but wanted to go on serving in some fashion, according to published reports.

But Rodriguez ultimately retired that year not because of these controversies, but after a Chicago Tribune account detailed his friendship with Frank Milito – who had been convicted of mail fraud – and thus with whom Rodriguez was not allowed to fraternize under CPD rules, the Chicago Reader recalled.

Rodriguez was succeeded by Terry Hillard as superintendent. On his LinkedIn page, Rodriguez noted he performed in a consulting function and taught criminal justice courses after retiring.

Upon his passing, the CPD said in part that Rodriguez "was a respected leader who cared deeply for the people of Chicago, and the brave men and women of CPD."

Mayor Brandon Johnson said in part in a statement, "A pioneer in the field of community policing, he led the department during a critical period, earning the respect of the brave rank-and-file men and women serving in communities throughout the city."

Larry Rogers Sr., 75, attorney

Attorney and former Cook County Bar Association President Larry Rogers Sr. died Jan. 19.

The website for Rogers' firm, Power Rogers LLP, noted that Rogers majored in philosophy as an undergraduate at St. Xavier University, and he received his law degree from the DePaul University College of Law in 1983.

He went on to launch the personal injury law firm Power Rogers LLP with attorney Joseph Power, the Chicago Bar Association noted.

In his first trial in Cook County in 1985, Rogers won $27 million in a product liability case – the largest personal injury verdict in Illinois at the time, the firm said. In 2000, he won a $55 million medical malpractice suit on behalf of a woman who suffered brain damage due to a delay in intubation at a local hospital.

Rogers was elected the president of the Cook County Bar Association and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association – and he was the first Black president of the latter organization.

Rogers earned the John Paul Stevens Award – the highest award bestowed by the Chicago Bar Association – and the Leonard M. Ring Lifetime Achievement Award from the Trial Lawyers Association.

He was also a member of the board of trustees at DePaul University.

Rogers' son, Larry Rogers Jr., is a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Review – as well as an attorney and equity partner at Power Rogers LLP. The younger Rogers was also called upon to run for mayor of Chicago in 2011, but decided not to do so.

Ron Rolland, 72, former CBS 2 announcer

Longtime CBS 2 viewers may remember the opens to our newscasts back in the early to mid-1980s – showing a sparkling blue CBS 2 logo hovering over a Chicago cityscape, as a baritone voice intoned, "Channel 2, WBBM-TV, Chicago," before the classic Channel 2 theme music by the Dick Marx Orchestra began.

That baritone voice was that of announcer Ron Rolland, who died Sept. 13.

A South Side native and a graduate of Brother Rice High School and the University of Illinois, Rolland began working as a voiceover announcer and actor in the 1960s when he was a teenager.

Rolland was heard as the announcer for CBS 2's newscasts for much of the 1980s. You didn't see him on television, but you heard him read the names of all the anchors you did see – Bill Kurtis, Walter Jacobson, Don Craig, Harry Porterfield, Mike Parker, Susan Anderson, Lester Holt – as his voice introduced Channel 2's evening newscasts.

Rolland has also been heard on other TV and radio stations in Chicago and beyond. He notably worked as ABC 7's main announcer in the 1990s and 2000s.

Rolland also did an assortment of commercial voiceovers, and was even one of the voice actors for Hubert the Harris Lion on Harris Bank spots – with an intonation that evoked older Hubert ads with actor Frank Nelson's voice.

The Chicago-based jazz group the James Sanders Trio also recorded an album at Rolland's studio in Lake Forest.

Jerry Springer, 79, talk show host

Jerry Springer, the famed talk show host whose rowdy show filmed in Chicago for nearly two decades on weekday afternoons, and who also briefly served as mayor of Cincinnati before that, died April 27 of pancreatic cancer.

Springer was best known for "The Jerry Springer Show," which was taped in Chicago from 1991 to 2009 before moving filming to Connecticut until the show ended in 2018.

RELATED: That one time when Chicago City Council became 'The Jerry Springer Show'

Born in London in 1944, Springer's family moved to New York when he was 5 years old. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science at Tulane University in 1965, and a law degree from Northwestern University School of Law three years later.

Springer met U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-New York) at a dinner party and worked on Kennedy's presidential campaign.

Springer soon started his own political career, serving on the city council in Cincinnati from 1971 to 1974, when he resigned after admitting to soliciting a prostitute. He won his seat back in 1975, and was elected mayor of the city in 1977. He served for one year as mayor, until 1978.

Springer made a failed bid for Ohio governor in 1982, before turning to a career in television as a local news anchor at NBC affiliate WLWT-TV, Cincinnati.

His iconic talk show debuted in 1991.

While the show initially focused on politics, it eventually underwent a complete makeover to become a salacious tabloid-style talk show, featuring fights, scantily clad guests, and taboo topics like incest and adultery.

"The Jerry Springer Show" became a guilty pleasure for millions – and had everyone talking in the 90s and beyond. The turn to the lurid made the show a ratings juggernaut, known for guests throwing chairs at each other during profanity-laced arguments. 

Springer and his show became iconic specifically in Chicago too. Springer show tickets were seemingly a hotter item than sports game tickets among University of Chicago students back in the late 90s – a lottery for Springer show tickets was once even offered to incoming college freshmen during orientation week.

While still hosting his talk show, Springer also was hired as a commentator for NBC 5 in Chicago in 1997, prompting longtime anchors Carol Marin and Ron Magers to resign in protest.

"Jerry Springer has had a chance for years now on that talk show to do wonderful things – to talk about education, to talk about issues, to talk about politics, to form a book club; you know, sort of, what trees has he planted?" Marin said on WTTW-Channel 11's "Chicago Tonight" program a couple of days before she quit NBC 5. "Jerry Springer made a willful decision. That's fine. He has a First Amendment right to do the kind of show he wants to do. But the crossover is what I object to – and if it's wrong for Ron and me and others to say that that's the wrong thing, and that's the wrong signal to send to our viewers – who are already confused – then I must respectfully disagree."

Marin went on to join CBS 2 as an investigative reporter and later as 10 p.m. anchor for a time, while Magers switched to ABC 7.

Springer made only two commentaries on NBC 5 before leaving his position. In his first – without naming Marin, who had quit a few days earlier – he accused her of finding "it necessary this week to use me as a steppingstone to martyrdom." He also called the protests against his appearances on the newscast "elitist snobbery."

"Please understand, we have no journalism in a free society unless we have commentary from all parts of the community; from the poor, the disenfranchised, the left, the right, the outrageous – and yes, the different – not just the endless array of Walter Cronkite wannabes that populate every news program in America so that virtually every news program looks alike," Springer said in the commentary.

The controversy over Springer's appearances on NBC 5 became a top story across local publications and newscasts in Chicago, including on CBS 2.

Meanwhile, while Springer defended his talk show as "escapist entertainment," others called it "trash TV" that contributed to a dumbing-down of America. But an expert emphasized the value in Springer's talk show and his professional approach.

"He was the ultimate skilled professional - as a journalist and as a TV talk show host when it came to making people feel comfortable and getting people to open up to him," Patty Lamberti, the director of Multimedia Journalism at Loyola University Chicago, said shortly after Springer's passing. "Jerry Springer was great, because he introduced us to parts of society that the media often ignores."

Springer also hosted a dating game show called Baggage on the Game Show Network starting in 2010, airing for four seasons.

In the end, from 2019 until 2022, Springer hosted the reality court show "Judge Jerry."

Contributing: Suzanne Le Mignot, Todd Feurer

Marge Summit, 87, bar owner, LGBTQ+ rights activist

Marge Summit, a renowned LGBTQ+ activist, bar owner, and community organizer, died May 16.

The Windy City Times reported she died of a stroke.

Summit told the Windy City Times she was born in an attic, and grew up first with her grandparents on the Northwest Side – making visits to the Riverview amusement park with a quarter from her grandfather. She later lived with her mother and stepfather, but told the Windy City Times her mother kicked her out of the family home after her stepfather died, over her "lifestyle" as she was a lesbian.

After graduating from Chicago Vocational High School and working for a phone company, Summit worked as a bartender and manager at the bar Togetherness on Hubbard Street near Clark Street in the early 1970s, the Windy City Times reported. She later became owner of P.Q.'s and Clark and Erie streets, which she renamed MS with her initials, the publication reported.

But Summit told the Windy City Times she was attacked at MS one New Year's Day in the 1970s, and wanted to get out of River North. She told the Windy City Times she got an offer to take over a bar called PQ on Lincoln Avenue near Orchard Street and Belden Avenue in Lincoln Park – making it into "a bar that catered to dancers, theatre people, actors." Rechristened His 'n Hers, Summit's incarnation of the bar opened in 1975.

His 'n Hers later moved to a space at 944 W. Addison St., beneath the Red Line tracks just east of Wrigley Field. When Summit was forced out of that space by the Chicago Transit Authority, His 'n Hers moved to a space on Broadway in Edgewater until closing in 1993, according to the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.

In a 2017 Windy City Times interview, Summit told LGBTQ+ historian Owen Keehnen that His 'n Hers was known especially for its entertainment – and in particular its Sunday open mic night. Summit was known for promoting young gay and lesbian artists such as Diana Straight-as-an-Arrow, Chris Clason, and Wacker Drive, according to the LGBT Hall of Fame.

An album of the acts that performed at His 'n Hers, "Gay and Straight Together," was released on Open Door Records, Summit told the publication.

His 'n Hers was also known for fundraisers – in particular for AIDS charities, Summit told Keehnen.

Summit and gay businessman Frank Kellas together developed the "Gay $ Project" ink stamp, so LGBTQ+ businesses from knew the dollars they were receiving were coming from queer and trans customers, the Windy City Times reported. The purpose was to show the impact of LGBTQ+ dollars on the everyday economy, the LGBT Hall of Fame reported.

As an activist, Summit was also active in the formation of Parents of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG, the LGBT Hall of Fame reported.

Summit appeared in the 1984 film "Before Stonewall," about the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S. before the Stonewall riots of 1969 in New York. She also co-produced "Crimes of Hate," a documentary about anti-LGBTQ+ violence in Chicago.

Summit was honored twice by the Gay Chicago Magazine Awards and the Mattachine Midwest, the hall of fame reported. 

John Trautschold, 70, CBS 2 broadcast engineer and facilities manager

John Trautschold, a broadcast engineer who spent 30 years with CBS 2 and developed the technological plan that supports the station today, died on June 20.

His passing came two years after he was seriously injured in a bicycle accident.

Trautschold was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and grew up in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Traustchold first worked as an engineer at WITI-TV 6 in Milwaukee before joining CBS 2 – arriving at our old broadcast center at 630 N. McClurg Ct. in 1983.

As a broadcast engineer, Trautschold made crucial contributions at CBS both the local and national level – ranging from a single camera at an event to the Olympics, recalled CBS 2 Vice President of Broadcast Operations & Engineering Tom Schnecke.

"John was a key contributor at the national level in establishing how we operate our local television stations today," Schnecke wrote. "His focus was always on building a path to the future for those who would follow."

As facilities supervisor for CBS 2, Trautschold designed and maintained the equipment that brought us on the air in our current building at 22 W. Washington St. at Block 37 – which has been CBS 2's home since September 2008. He also supervised the relocation of the station.

"Every cable, studio BSP panel and rack were developed with his wisdom and passion," Schnecke wrote to CBS 2's staff shortly after Trautschold's passing. "And while we've added a few pieces over the last ten years, the next time you plug into anything or press a button, John likely determined how that particular system was initially designed."

Traustchold was also the vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1220 – representing about 70 staffers including technical directors, photographers, editors, and audio operators. As the shop steward for CBS 2, Trautschold was highly respected by all.

In addition to his expertise in broadcast engineering, Trautschold was an aviator who flew light aircraft for more than 40 years. Over the years, he flew his Cherokee 180 from the Midwest to the East Coast, and also west all the way to Arizona.

After retiring from CBS 2 in 2013, Trautschold took on the mission of building a Velocity XL aircraft.

Trautschold moved to Payson, Arizona in 2015, two years after retiring from CBS 2.

Rocky Wirtz, 70, Blackhawks chairman

Chicago Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz, who helped bring three Stanley Cup championships to Chicago, died July 25.

William Rockwell Wirtz had been chairman of the Chicago Blackhawks and president of the Wirtz Corporation since 2007. As chairman of the Blackhawks, Wirtz was responsible for all aspects of the team's operations.

A Chicago native, Wirtz received his bachelor's degree from the Northwestern University School of Communication in 1975 – and later joined the board of trustees at Northwestern.

Wirtz's grandfather, Arthur Wirtz, bought the Blackhawks in 1954. Rocky Wirtz's father, Bill Wirtz, owned the team until he died in 2007, at which point Rocky Wirtz took over.

The 2007 season was longtime Blackhawks stars Patrick Kane's and Jonathan Toews' rookie season.

When Rocky Wirtz stepped into the role, the organization saw a significant change on the ice and off. One of the first things Wirtz did was negotiate a local TV contract for home games – which his father before him had forbidden on the grounds that it would be bad for attendance.

Wirtz also reinvigorated the fanbase, helping put them on a 13-year sellout streak at the United Center.

Under Wirtz's leadership, the team practice rink was, more importantly, a community ice rink. The Blackhawks invested $65 million on the West Side to help build Fifth Third Arena down the street from the United Center to get more people interested in the team and the sport.

Wirtz also led his family's beverage business from 1980 until his passing. In 2016, he drove efforts to form a partnership with The Charmer Sunbelt Group and create the Breakthru Beverage Group – of which he served as co-chairman.

Wirtz was also involved with Wirtz Realty, which has developed properties in Illinois for many years and owns more than 20 commercial and residential properties in Chicago and the suburbs. Wirtz also oversaw his family's banking interests in the Chicago and Miami areas.

As chairman of the Blackhawks, Wirtz oversaw the team's three historic Stanley Cup-winning seasons in 2010, 2013, and 2015. But last year, Wirtz was criticized for berating reporters who asked about what was being done in the wake of sexual abuse allegations against former video coach Brad Aldrich, which dated back to the first of those Stanley Cup seasons.

As to the sexual abuse scandal in which prospect Kyle Beach said Aldrich abused him, Wirtz said he was unaware of the 2010 allegations until a lawsuit was filed in 2021.

Family, friends, colleagues, and Blackhawks fans turned out for a public memorial for Wirtz in August.

"Rocky means a lot to all of us players," former Blackhawks right winger Marian Hossa said at the memorial. "We will never forget what he has done for us."

Former Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook added: "Rocky made us players feel like we were in this together. It was never him being an owner and us being players. We were all pulling on the same rope together."

Contributing: Jermont Terry, Marissa Perlman

David Yondorf, 43, stage combat master, Bounding Main vocalist

David Yondorf, a singer with the celebrated vocal ensemble Bounding Main and a longtime teacher in the Theatre Department at Columbia College Chicago, passed away on May 17 after a battle with cancer.

The son of Eric and Lisa Yondorf – both of whom had worked for the Chicago Department of Planning and Development – David Yondorf grew up in the West Rogers Park neighborhood. He graduated from Roycemore School and Lane Tech High School before studying stage combat at Columbia College – building on both his martial arts training and his natural stage presence.

"[Yondorf] came to us as a second-degree blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do wanting actor training. He took to the art of fake fighting with delight…. He started teaching at the High School Institute at Columbia College in 2005, [and] joined our adjunct faculty in 2010…. He was with us [at Columbia] teaching up until midterms of this year," David Woolley, Columbia Theatre Department Stage Combat program coordinator, was quoted by the school. "His love for his students, his art form and his audience were unparalleled."

As noted by Columbia College, Yondorf had been a certified stage combat teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors since 2010, and had been violence design artist-in-residence at City Lit Theatre Company since 2018.

Yondorf served as the stage combat and violence director for numerous productions. In addition to stage combat, Yondorf also taught voice for the actor at Columbia College.

When he wasn't teaching or coordinating stage fights, Yondorf was off touring the region – and the world – singing baritone, and sometimes bass, with the maritime-themed a cappella ensemble Bounding Main. Yondorf performed ballads and sea shanties with the group for 20 years – alongside Dean Calin, Christie and Gina Dalby, and Jon Krivitzky. A sixth member, Maggie Hannington, retired from the group in 2010.

Such a musical endeavor came naturally to Yondorf – as noted on the Bounding Main website, with a hint of Yondorf's trademark wit.

"David learned an appreciation of folk music singing along on road trips with his mother, a folk-music aficionado who is a big supporter of our shanty shenanigans. When he wasn't joining his family singing in the car (Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Kingston Trio) he was busy belting out rock songs in his bedroom (Metallica, Guns N Roses, Nine Inch Nails). Perhaps his family preferred the road trips," Yondorf's Bounding Main bio notes. "Despite a near-allergic reaction to anything on moving bodies of water, David is delighted to continue singing near ships and about ships for as long as his Dramamine stores hold out."

Yondorf was part of a vocal group Calin put together for the Cotswold Renaissance Faire in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in the fall of 2002. Bounding Main was officially formed a few months later, on Jan. 19, 2003.

Over the years, Bounding Main performed at an assortment of venues and events all around the Midwest – including the Chicago Maritime Festival at the Chicago History Museum, Tall Ships Chicago, the Bristol Renaissance Faire, the National Geographic Real Pirates Exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, and the Door County Maritime Museum Pirates Exhibit and Wooden Boat Show, among many others.

But Bounding Main's tours took them far beyond the shores of the Great Lakes. They also performed at numerous events around the world – with visits to Canada, France, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, and the U.K. over the years. Bounding Main also produced six albums.

It happens that Yondorf was also a lifelong personal friend of the primary author of this story. From playing one-on-one basketball in our families' backyards to singing Beatles songs a cappella together to pass the time as teens, and from family New Year's Eve parties when we were high school- and early-college-aged to a few of our own wild parties when we were a little older, we shared many, many good times.

Bill Zehme, 64, author

Bill Zehme, an author and magazine writer known for making A-list celebrities relatable in biographic volumes, died March 26 after a long battle with cancer.

Originally from the South Shore neighborhood, Zehme graduated from Loyola University Chicago in 1980. At Loyola, Zehme and schoolmate John Slania – who later became the associate dean of the School of Communication at the university – hosted a mystery show on WLUW radio, described in a 2017 feature as a "hard-boiled detective serial complete with sound effects."

Meanwhile at the Loyola Phoenix student newspaper, Zehme tracked down high-profile Chicagoans such as Hugh Hefner for interviews, the university reported.

Zehme went on to write for all the top-notch magazines – primarily Rolling Stone and Esquire, and also Vanity Fair and Playboy. His first book, penned with photographer Bonnie Schiffman, was the 1991 volume, "The Rolling Stone Book of Comedy" – a portrait and profile gallery featuring comedians from Jerry Lewis to Jerry Seinfeld.

In a 1996 Chicago Magazine article by Ted Allen – later of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" fame – Zehme described himself modestly as "just a guy" from South Shore. But by then, Zehme already had an assortment of top-notch celebrity interviews to his credit – including the first interview with Frank Sinatra in about 30 years in March of that year, Allen wrote.

"He has lain naked beneath a flimsy sheet beside an equally un­clothed Sharon Stone, hav­ing submitted with no small anxiety to her peculiar com­mand that they receive mas­sages together," Allen wrote of Zehme.

Zehme had also by then interviewed Jackie Gleason, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Woody Allen, and Liberace, among numerous others.

Yet Zehme told Allen: "I'm really not interested in most people. The celebrity profile is the bastard stepchild of journalism, and I'm embarrassed sometimes to be associated with it. I try to do something as literary as possible. I want to do people who have lived lives. People you can learn something from as people."

In 1997, Zehme expanded his Sinatra interview article into a full-length book – "The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin'."

In 1999, Zehme released, "Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman." Zehme had met Kaufman before, but the performance artist and entertainer had died in 15 years earlier. Yet Zehme's book, combined with Milos Forman's Kaufman biopic "Man on the Moon" starring Jim Carrey, helped launch a resurgence in interest in Kaufman's life and career around the turn of the millennium.

Johnny Carson's last interview in his life was with Zehme. It became the basis for the 2002 book, "Here's Johnny!: Thirty Years of America's Favorite Late-Night Entertainer."

Zehme counted among his friends the broadcasters Dean Richards and Bob Sirott – the latter formerly CBS 2's entertainment and lifestyle editor. This led to regular appearances in the 90s and 2000s on Sirott and wife Marianne Murciano's "Fox Thing in the Morning" program on Fox 32, and with Richards on WGN-Channel 9.

Zehme wrote a piece documenting his own battle with cancer for Chicago Magazine in 2016.

Sam Zell, 81, businessman and former Tribune Co. owner

Sam Zell, a Chicago real estate magnate and controversial onetime owner of Tribune Co., died May 18.

Zell, according to his firm's website, was known as the forefather of the modern real estate investment trust. He was also known as "the grave dancer" for his ability to revive moribund properties.

The Chicago native and University of Michigan graduate reveled in bucking traditional wisdom. The Associated Press reported Zell had a golden touch with real estate, and got his start managing apartment buildings as a college student. By the time he reached his 70s, he had amassed a fortune estimated at $3.8 billion.

Zelll founded Equity Group Investments in 1968, and chaired three companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange – Equity Residential (EQR), an apartment real estate investment trust; Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS), a manufactured home community and resort real estate investment trust; and Equity Commonwealth (EQC), an office real estate investment trust.

Zell sold Equity Office Properties Trust, the office-tower company he spent three decades building, to Blackstone Group for $39 billion in 2007.

A month later, Zell made a leveraged buyout of the ailing Tribune Co. – a deal that came to tarnish his image.  At the time, the Tribune Company was the parent of the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and several other newspapers – as well as WGN-TV and radio and other broadcast outlets.

In December 2008, the Tribune Company ended up in bankruptcy with $13 billion in debt, most of which was taken on when Zell's $8.2 billion buyout was finalized.

Separately, Zell brought in chief executive officer Randy Michaels, who was alleged in multiple reports to have turned the Tribune Co. into a raunchy fraternity house environment. Late New York Times reporter David Carr wrote that the Chicago Tribune as a workplace was characterized by frequent "use of sexual innuendo, poisonous workplace banter and profane invective."

Later, former Tribune managing editor James O'Shea penned the book "The Deal from Hell: How Moguls and Wall Street Plundered Great American Newspapers," which included a graphic anecdote about Michaels involving sex acts on a Tribune Tower terrace.

Also in 2008, when the Tribune Co. still owned the Chicago Cubs, Zell left Cubs fans furious as he talked about selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field. This never actually ended up happening, but Zell did sell the Cubs and the ballpark to the Ricketts family in 2009.

After the Tribune Company emerged from bankruptcy, it split in two – broadcasting assets went to Tribune Media, later sold to Nexstar, while newspapers went to Tribune Publishing.

Zell was also known for his philanthropic efforts, in particular setting up several entrepreneurship programs through the Zell Family Foundation, according to his website. He was named one of 100 Greatest Living Business Minds by Forbes in 2017.

Robert Zimmer, 75, University of Chicago president

Robert J. Zimmer, who served as president of the University of Chicago from 2006 until 2021, died May 23.

A New York City native, Zimmer studied earned his bachelor's degree from Brandeis University in 1968, and a master's and Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University in 1971 and 1975. He served on the U.S. Naval Academy faculty for a couple of years, and then joined the faculty of the University of Chicago as an L.E. Dickson Instructor for Mathematics in 1977, UChicago said.

Zimmer was a member of the faculty and an administrator for the U of C for nearly 40 years altogether – also serving as chairman of the Department of Mathematics, deputy provost, and vice president of research at Argonne National Laboratory. He also served on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, from 1981 until 1983.

In mathematics, Zimmer specialized in fields of geometry – including ergodic theory, described simply in one academic document as "the study of the long-term average behavior of systems evolving in time." Zimmer's work on the types of symmetries geometric spaces can show became known as the Zimmer program, the U of C reported.

Zimmer left UChicago to become provost of Brown University in 2002. But he returned in 2006 as the 13th President of the University of Chicago, replacing Don Randel.

As UChicago president, Zimmer was credited with expanding educational access and financial support for students. The university's first engineering program was also established under Zimmer, and the university opened new centers in Beijing, Delhi, and Hong Kong.

Zimmer also placed a strong emphasis on free expression and speech in higher education.

In 2014, Zimmer established the Committee on Freedom of Expression, which developed what are known as the Chicago Principles.

"Of course, the ideas of different members of the University community will often and quite naturally conflict," the committee wrote in part. "But it is not the proper role of the University to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive."

This came during a time when concern about cancellations of appearances by controversial speakers on political grounds were dominating headlines at some universities.

Using a $100 million gift from an anonymous alumni donor, Zimmer also created the Odyssey Scholarship Program for students in the greatest need.

Zimmer stepped down as president in September 2021 and became chancellor after surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor. He became chancellor emeritus in July of last year.

Joe Zucchero, 69, longtime Mr. Beef owner

Joseph Zucchero, the longtime owner of the famous Mr. Beef Italian beef stand in River North, died March 1.

Published reports indicated that he had fought non-Hodgkin's lymphoma for many years.

Zucchero was raised on the city's Northwest Side and settled in Park Ridge in the late 1970s, according to the Cooney Funeral Home. He first worked as a butcher at Dominick's grocery stores, and then arrived at Mr. Beef at 666 N. Orleans St.

Zucchero took over Mr. Beef in 1979. It had been founded by brothers-in-law Carl Bonavolanto and Tony Ozzauto in 1963. 

"Joe was able to build his restaurant into a Chicago staple over the last 40+ years, through his ability to connect with people from all walks of life, over the shared love of food," the funeral home obit read.

The location of Mr. Beef – close to downtown, the high-rises of River North, and the Cabrini-Green public housing development – made for a diverse base with which the stand was popular, Eater.com reported.

Mr. Beef more recently became the inspiration for the acclaimed FX television series "The Bear," starring Jeremy Allen White as a young chef with ambitions at an Italian beef stand. Joe Zucchero's son, Chris, told Eater.com his father visited the set for the show – even while fighting cancer.

Zucchero's daughter, Lauren, told Eater.com her father refused to raise the price of Italian beef at the stand – even as the cost of beef went up.

On X, formerly Twitter, actor Joe Mantegna tweeted that his wife surprised him 35 years ago at a party catered by Mr. Beef – launching a friendship with Zuccerho that lasted many years.

Joe Zucchero was also an avid music fan – with "an eclectic taste, from Frank Sinatra to Steely Dan, the Rascals and Boy George," his obit read. He was also a fan of film – particularly from the golden age of Hollywood, and loved his dogs and time on the sun, according to his obit.

In:
• Sam Zell
• Harry Porterfield
• Dick Butkus
• Jerry Springer
• Rocky Wirtz
• Bobby Hull