Funeral arrangements have been announced for longtime Chicago Bears owner Virginia Halas McCaskey, who died Thursday.
CHICAGO — Funeral arrangements have been announced for longtime Chicago Bears owner Virginia Halas McCaskey, who died Thursday.
A visitation will be held from 1 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Oehler Funeral Home in Des Plaines, according to her obituary.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
A private funeral will be held Wednesday at Saint Emily Catholic Church in Mount Prospect.
McCaskey was 102.
She served as the Bears owner since Oct. 31, 1983, on the death of her father, Bears founder George Halas.
Like her father, a co-founder of the NFL, McCaskey kept the team in family hands. She gave operational control and the title of president to her eldest son, Michael McCaskey, who served as chairman until being succeeded by brother George McCaskey in 2011.
During her stewardship, the Bears won a Super Bowl in 1986 and lost a second 21 years later.
McCaskey, the older of Halas’ two children, never expected to find herself in charge. Her brother, George “Mugs” Halas Jr., was being groomed to take over the team, but died suddenly of a heart attack in 1979.
McCaskey assumed ownership upon her father’s death in 1983, and her late husband, Ed McCaskey, succeeded Halas as chairman. Not long after, she turned over control to Michael, the eldest of her 11 children.
SEE ALSO: New Orleans will be the ‘safest city in America’ for Super Bowl LIX, officials say
McCaskey’s official title was secretary to the board of directors. Despite her generally hands-off approach and low public profile, she occasionally exercised ultimate authority on team decisions as matriarch of the family.
One of those involved a 1987 lawsuit brought by the children of “Mugs” Halas, which was resolved by a stock buyout of their shares. A more recent reminder came in December 2014, when George McCaskey announced the firings of coach Marc Trestman and general manager Phil Emery at a news conference, and was asked to describe his mother’s role in the process.
He paused, struggling to describe her unhappiness with the just-ended 5-11 season, and the team’s generally fading fortunes.
“She’s pissed off,” George McCaskey said. “I can’t think of a 91-year-old woman that that description would apply, but in this case, I can’t think of a more accurate description.
Virginia McCaskey came by her fandom honestly. According to family members, she often wouldn’t serve dessert on Sundays when the Bears lost. In that same 2006 interview, she recalled attending the first playoff game in league history, when she was 9.
The Bears and Portsmouth Spartans finished the 1932 season in the first tie for first place, so the league added a game to determine a champion. Because of snow, the game was moved indoors to the old Chicago Stadium, and the Bears won 9-0 playing on an 80-yard field that came right to the walls.
“I remember I didn’t save my ticket stub, but one of my cousins had saved his,” McCaskey said. “We sat in the second balcony and the ticket price was $1.25.
Her tenure as the Bears’ owner included the establishment of the Bears Care program in 2005. The Bears said that Bears Care has issued grants totaling more than $31.5 million to 225 qualifying agencies to improve the quality of life for people in the Chicago area, especially disadvantaged children and their families. Bears Care also supported health awareness programs focusing on breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
McCaskey had 11 children, eight sons and three daughters. She is survived by her sons Patrick, Edward Jr., George, Richard, Brian and Joseph, and daughters Ellen Tonquest, Mary and Anne Catron. She is also survived by 21 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.
The Associated Press and ABC7 Chicago contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2025 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.
Funeral arrangements have been announced for longtime Chicago Bears owner Virginia Halas McCaskey, who died Thursday.