Photo: Youtube
Rest in peace, Gregory Grisham.
By Bernadette Giacomazzo — Written on Jun 25, 2020
Joe Biden continues to narrow down his choices in a vice-presidential candidate. And, as promised, he's narrowed the field to solely include women. One woman whose name comes up time and again as a potential candidate is Michelle Lujan Grisham, the current governor of New Mexico.
However, not many people are less familiar with Grisham's husband, in part because he died in 2004.
Who is Michelle Lujan Grisham's late husband, Gregory Grisham?
He was a native of New Mexico.
Gregory Grisham was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, in 1958. According to his obituary, he graduated from Cibola High School and received his degree in economics from the University of New Mexico where he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. It was while he was at the University of New Mexico that he met Michelle Lujan, whom he ultimately married in 1982.
He had two daughters with the governor.
The Grishams had two daughters: Taylor, whom her mother paid tribute to in a video format after she graduated high school, and Erin. Not much is known about the Grisham daughters, as they tend to keep low profiles.
He died in 2004 of a brain aneurysm.
On July 31, 2004, Gregory Grisham collapsed while he was jogging. Despite the best efforts of the medical professionals, Grisham died on August 1, 2004. The cause of death was ruled to be an undiagnosed brain aneurysm. At the time of his death, Michelle Lujan Grisham was the former New Mexico health secretary.
Michelle Lujan Grisham then sued her late husband's doctors in a wrongful death suit.
In 2007, Michelle Lujan Grisham — together with her daughters Taylor and Erin — filed a wrongful death suit against Dr. Kenneth Rogers and Southwest Medical Associates Inc. According to the wrongful death suit, Rogers misdiagnosed her late husband's aneurysms as migraines. Michelle Lujan Grisham also claimed Rogers failed to perform the necessary tests to fully diagnose the aneurysms and but for this failure, Gregory Grisham would still be alive.
The lawsuit was subsequently dropped, but Dr. Rogers claimed it "hurt his reputation."
After Dr. Rogers provided the necessary information, Michelle Lujan Grisham dropped the wrongful death lawsuit. However, Dr. Rogers claimed his reputation was irreparably harmed thanks to the lawsuit. "I had patients who happened to be friends of mine call me and say, 'Gee, I'm sorry.' I had colleagues, who said, 'Gee, we're sorry that this happened.' They wrote me a personal letter of sympathy and support. I don't have any idea if patients left me because of this," he said.
Grisham is now engaged.
When she was sworn in as the governor of New Mexico, she was flanked by her daughters and her new fiance. Her new fiance's name is Manny Cordova. It's unclear when they met, or even when they will get married, but he owns Southwest Collision Craftsman. According to Grisham, Cordova is "not really into politics."
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, publicist, and photographer whose work has appeared in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, BET.com, and more.