Chicago radio personality Lin Brehmer dies after battle with cancer

CHICAGO - Long-time Chicago radio personality Lin Brehmer died Sunday morning at age 68 after battling cancer. 

Brehmer hosted mornings on WXRT since 1991.

WXRT's Terri Hemmert broke the news just after 10 a.m. on Facebook.

"It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you that we all lost our best friend. Lin Brehmer fought cancer as long as he could. He passed early this morning, peacefully, with his wife and son by his side. Tomorrow at 10am, his XRT family will celebrate the incredible life of our best friend in the whole world. We'll hold each other up through this heart-breaking time. Lin would want that. Take nothing for granted. ~Terri Hemmert"

Brehmer began his career as a radio host in New York before moving to Chicago. In nearly 40 years at WXRT – the first ten as music director, then a morning drive and midday host – Brehmer called himself "your best friend in the whole world."

"He was everybody's friend because he wasn't announcing," said Bob Sirott of WGN radio. "He was talking like a real person. And he talked to tens of thousands of people one at a time. So you really felt he was your friend."

Brehmer was a musical encyclopedia and hosted shows with some of rock's biggest stars. But he was also a poet and wrote several essays a week for a feature called "Lin's Bin."

"He would make people cry. I cried many times when he was telling a story from his youth, being taken to his first baseball game," said former WXRT Program Director Norm Winer.

Brehmer was also a world-class Cubs fan and on Sunday night, his name was on the Wrigley Field marquee.