Amid all the confusion as to whether he was alive or not, the Free Press was among a number of media outlets that confirmed today that Kronk Gym boxing icon Emanuel Steward has died at age 68.
The paper reported Steward's sister, Diane Steward-Jones, said Steward died at a Chicago-area hospital at 2:46 p.m. after undergoing surgery for diverticulitis.
“He has passed – he’s gone home,” Steward-Jones told the Freep by phone. “He was in no pain, and we sang to him, as well as did the doctors present. He had loved ones around him.”
Steward, the founder of the legendary Kronk Gym, trained such boxers as Thomas Hearns.
Through part of the day there were mixed reports as to whether he had died. Some reports saying he was dead came before 2:46 p.m., the time his sister said he actually died.
