MOUNT PROSPECT, Ill. (WLS) — Wednesday was the funeral for Bears principal owner Virginia Halas McCaskey.
Family, friends and football legends gathered for her funeral at Saint Emily Catholic Church in Mount Prospect.
A number of former players and coaches came out to pay their final respects, including Lovie Smith and Brian Urlacher.
Loved ones, fans and NFL colleagues paid tribute to the team’s matriarch at a visitation Tuesday in Des Plaines.
Among the attendees were former Bears players and a number of NFL team owners.
Commissioner Roger Goodell was also expected to be in attendance.
McCaskey died last week at the age of 102.
McCaskey 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.
The Associated Press and ESPN contributed to this report.
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