Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Daniel Scully, 69, lived in Vegas but his heart was with the Cubs

(JTA) — Daniel Scully was a fanatic Cubs fan — so much so that it was his standard sign-off. Every time he hung up the phone or finished a text message, he would end with “Go Cubs.”

Scully was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, the middle child of three siblings. He worked for a family plastics business and when the opportunity arose to open a branch in Las Vegas, he jumped at it. Even after moving, he would come back to Chicago a few times a year to visit his siblings and catch a Cubs game.

Scully was due to visit in early April for his mother’s 96th birthday. But on March 15 he succumbed to the coronavirus in a Las Vegas hospital. He was 69.


As a public service during this pandemic, the Forward is providing free, unlimited access to all coronavirus articles. If you’d like to support our independent Jewish journalism, click here.


A lifelong bachelor, Scully lived a solitary life. “He always seemed happy, even though he was alone,” his sister, Cissy Scully Greenspan, recalled.

After the family business closed, Scully opened a PostNet franchise in Las Vegas. But health problems led him to sell about a year ago.

In early March, Scully took ill and went to the doctor, who told him he had a cold and sent him home. At some point, Scully stopped answering his phone and the family asked the police to check in on him. They found him in his bed but too weak to call for help. The police officer who called Greenspan with the news let her know that Scully had been conscious when they found him.


Do you know someone who has died of COVID-19? We want to share their story. Please fill out this brief form.


“That night, he knew that we had sent help for him,” she said. “And that comforted me. He knew even from afar we were still looking out for him.”

After he died, Scully’s remains were cremated and sent back to Chicago, where the family built a makeshift shrine in the garage with Cubs memorabilia. They hope to scatter some of his ashes in Wrigley Field.

The post Daniel Scully, 69, lived in Vegas but his heart was with the Cubs appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.