Former Chicago Bears president and CEO Michael McCaskey passed away at the age of 76 on Saturday after a lengthy battle with Leukemia, his family announced. He was the eldest child of principal owner Virginia McCaskey.
McCaskey became the team’s chairman in 1983 following his grandfather George Halas’s death. He oversaw the team’s only Super Bowl championship in 1985 and was president until 1999. He remained chairman of the team until 2011 when his brother, George, took over the position.
His family released the following statement on the Chicago Bears website:
“Mike was already successful in every sense of the word when he took over for George S. Halas after the passing of ‘Papa Bear’ in 1983. We are grateful to Mike for overseeing arguably the greatest team in NFL history, and for his many years of service to the Bears and to us. The oldest of eleven siblings has many duties thrust upon him, not all of them pleasant, yet Mike handled them all with grace and patience. Although Mike’s passing was not brought on by the novel coronavirus, our family, like so many people, is not able to gather and grieve together at this time. Our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones to COVID-19. Our focus in the coming days will be to celebrate Mike’s life, and be whatever source of support we can be to John and Kathryn and those they love.”
In addition to winning Super Bowl XX, McCaskey was also instrumental in moving the team’s Halas Hall headquarters to its current location in 1997 and co-founded Bears Care, the team’s charitable arm, back in 2005, according to Chicagobears.com.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the McCaskey family during this difficult time.
[vertical-gallery id=445306]
[lawrence-related id=445559,445601,445489,445587]
