Editing Emile Griffith (section)

==Personal life==
[[File:Luis Rodrigo Griffith.jpg|thumb|Luis Rodrigo Griffith, Emile's adopted son and caretaker, at the after party of the world premiere of [[Terence Blanchard]]'s opera ''[[Champion (opera)|Champion]]'' on June 15, 2013.]]
In 1971, two months after they met, Griffith married another Virgin Islander, Mercedes "Sadie" Donastorg, who was then a member of the dance troupe "Prince Rupert and the Slave Girls".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=oTcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA39 Griffith with wife Mercedes & best man Joe Frazier] JET, May 27, 1971 pg 39</ref> Griffith adopted Donastorg's daughter, but the marriage only lasted a few months.<ref name="NYT_Klores" /> After retiring from boxing, Griffith worked as a corrections officer at the Secaucus, New Jersey Juvenile Detention Facility.<ref name=ShadowBoxer/>

In 1992, Griffith was viciously beaten and almost killed on a New York City street after leaving a gay bar near the Port Authority Bus Terminal. He was in the hospital for four months after the assault.  It was not clear if the violence was motivated by [[gay bashing|homophobia]].<ref name="NYT_Klores">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/sports/emile-griffith-benny-paret-and-the-fatal-fight.html |work=The New York Times |first=Dan |last=Klores |title=Emile Griffith, Benny Paret and the Fatal Fight |date=March 31, 2012 |access-date=December 8, 2019}}</ref>

Griffith was [[bisexual]]. He was quoted in ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' as saying "I like men and women both. But I don't like that word: homosexual, gay or faggot. I don't know what I am. I love men and women the same, but if you ask me which is better ... I like women."<ref name=ShadowBoxer/>

===Death===
A long-time resident of [[Weehawken, New Jersey]],<ref>[https://archive.hudsonreporter.com/2013/07/28/the-passing-of-a-champion/ "The passing of a champion; Boxing Great Griffith, Who Called Hudson County Home For Years, Dies At 75"], ''[[The Hudson Reporter]]'', July 28, 2013. Accessed September 18, 2020. "During his boxing heyday, when he won both the world welterweight and middleweight championships, Emile Griffith was proud to call Hudson County home. For almost 30 years, Griffith lived on Boulevard East in Weehawken."</ref> Griffith died July 23, 2013, at a care facility in Hempstead, New York. In his final years, he suffered from [[dementia pugilistica]] and required full-time care. His lover, whom he had adopted as a son,<ref name="NYT_Klores" /> Luis Rodrigo Griffith, was his primary caregiver.<ref>{{cite news|title=Former boxing champion Emile Griffith dies at 75|url=https://www.foxnews.com/sports/former-boxing-champion-emile-griffith-dies-at-75|publisher=Fox News|access-date=July 23, 2013}}</ref> He was buried in [[St. Michael's Cemetery (New York)|St. Michael's Cemetery]], Queens, New York City.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |last3= |first3= |date=2021-10-09 |title=NYC cemetery, junkyard stand 'their' ground in property fight: suit |url=https://nypost.com/2021/10/09/nyc-cemetery-junkyard-stand-their-ground-in-property-fight-suit/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |language=en-US}}</ref>