6:22PM EDT October 25. 2012 - Emanuel Steward, a Hall of Fame trainer and iconic figure in Detroit who put his hometown on the boxing map by turning out some of the greatest fighters the sport has seen, died Thursday in a Chicago area hospital.

He was 68.

Steward had been suffering from diverticulitis, but there were various reports that he had stage 4 colon cancer as well. He has been hospitalized since September and underwent surgery recently for diverticulitis, a stomach disorder, according to his sister, Diane Steward-Jones.