On July 5, 2010, while boating on Lake St. Clair with his children, father-in-law, and mother-in-law, Probert experienced "severe chest pain" and collapsed. His father-in-law Dan Parkinson, the Cornwall, Ontario, chief of police, attempted CPR to save his life. He was taken to Windsor Regional Hospital's Metropolitan Campus and was pronounced dead. His funeral services were held July 9, 2010, in Windsor, Ontario. It was attended by many of his former teammates and rivals including Dino Ciccarelli, Tie Domi, Gerard Gallant, Doug Gilmour, Stu Grimson, Joey Kocur, Brad McCrimmon, Darren McCarty and Steve Yzerman, as well as the Red Wings general manager Ken Holland and owners Mike and Marian Ilitch. His eulogy was delivered by Yzerman. His brain was donated to the Sports Legacy Institute to help researchers that are studying the effects of concussions and other sports-related head injuries. In February 2011, the researchers announced at Boston University that they had found evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in Probert's brain.