TOPLINE From daytime television star Billy Miller to musicians Steve Harwell and Sinead O’Connor, the following celebrities are among the biggest stars who have died this year.Listed below, by date, are celebrities who have died in 2023, leaving behind storied legacies in the film, television and music industries.

Herb Kohl, a retired Wisconsin Senator, businessman, and former owner of the Milwaukee Bucks died on Wednesday at age 88 after a brief illness. Kohl became president of his family-owned business in 1970, which included dozens of grocery stores and the Kohl’s department store chain. Kohl sold the company in 1979, and began a decades-long career investing in real estate and the stock market. He also became heavily involved in professional basketball. Kohl purchased his hometown team, the Milwaukee Bucks, for $18 million in 1985. After almost 30 years of ownership, Kohl sold the team to Marc Lasry, the CEO of Avenue Capital Group, and Wesley Edens, co-founder of Fortress Investment Group. The pair of billionaires reportedly paid $550 million for the team. Kohl also chipped in $100 million of his own money to fund a new arena for the team in Milwaukee. Two years after the sale of the Bucks, Forbes estimated Kohl’s net worth at $650 million—although he promised to donate proceeds of the sale to charities. Kohl was also heavily involved in Wisconsin Democratic politics, ran for senate in 1988, and won reelection four times until his retirement in 2011. According to his organization, the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation has donated almost $18.5 million in grants and scholarships for Wisconsin high school students. He has also donated millions to his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison—including $25 million to the school to build a new basketball arena, later named the Kohl Center.
TOM SMOTHERS (DECEMBER 27)
Tom Smothers, part of the iconic Smothers Brothers comedy duo, died Tuesday at age 86, according to the National Comedy Center. Tom and his brother Dick started out as a folk singing group and rose to fame as a comedy duo well-known for its satirical political commentary. Their pioneering TV show, “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” first aired in 1967 and was famously cancelled abruptly in 1969 amid longtime tensions with CBS executives over the brothers’ resistance to censorship and other disagreements over the show’s political content. The duo famously used a comedic lens to discuss political issues like their opposition to the Vietnam War and support of civil rights. The Smothers Brothers were still performing as recently as last year, when they launched a new tour. In a statement, his brother Dick said Tom “was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life, he was a one-of-a-kind creative partner.” He said their relationship “was like a good marriage—the more we were together, the more we loved and respected one another.” The National Comedy Center described the duo as “the most enduring comedy duo in history.”