Virginia McCaskey has served as the Bears owner since October 31, 1983, on the death of her father, Bears founder George Halas.
Virginia McCaskey, longtime owner of the Chicago Bears, has died at age 102, the team announced Thursday. "While we are sad, we are comforted knowing Virginia Halas McCaskey lived a long, full, faith-filled life and is now with the love of her life on earth," the family said.
"She guided the Bears for four decades and based every business decision on what was best for Bears players, coaches, staff and fans." Virginia McCaskey has served as the Bears owner since October 31, 1983, after she inherited the team following the death of her father and Bears founder George Halas. McCaskey was born in 1923 in Chicago and was the oldest George and Min Halas' two children, with her younger brother George S. "Mugs" Halas Jr. She studied at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she met her future husband, Edward W. McCaskey, the Bears said. The two married on February 2, 1943, in St. Margaret Mary's Church in Bel Air, Md. before Mr. McCaskey would go into military service in World War II after his ROTC training. 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.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. "I think it's important that all of our family remembers that we really haven't done anything to earn this," McCaskey said in a rare interview in 2006. "We're just the recipients of a tremendous legacy. I use the word 'custodian,' and we want to pass it on the best way we can. ... We've been working on that for a long time." 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. 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 and ovarian cancer. Mrs. 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. Her husband passed away in 2003. Their son, Timothy, passed in 2011 and Michael passed in 2020. She is also survived by 21 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.Related Topics
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