The Hon Judge G Douglas Griset

Schenectady - The Hon. Judge G. Douglas Griset of Schenectady, NY, age 79, died peacefully at home on January 28, 2022 surrounded by his loving family. Doug was born December 8th, 1942, in Virginia Beach, VA, son of Helen (Gladden) Griset and William J. Griset Sr., and moved as a child to Schenectady, NY where he was proud to be in the first graduating class of Mohonasen High School. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1964 and earned his J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1967. He became Schenectady City Police Court Judge in 1976 at 34 years of age and continued until he was elected Family Court Judge in 1981 where he also served as Supervising Judge of the Family Courts of the 4th Judicial District and acting Supreme Court Judge since 1995. During his tenure in Family Court, Judge Griset was the President of the New York State Family Court Judges Association and served on innumerable state committees, including the Family Violence Task Force and Universal Case Management Systems. In 2000, he retired from Family Court, and was named to the Civil Appeals Settlement Program (CASP), resolving intransigent cases up until his passing. Most recently, he received the Schenectady County Bar Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. An avid athlete and sports fanatic all his life, his favorite pastimes were competitive running, cycling, and golfing, and rooting for his beloved Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics, and NY Giants. He ran the New York City Marathon two times, the Boston Marathon three times and placed in over 100 races including winning the 1989 USA Track & Field (USATF) (formerly known as The Athletics Conference) Masters 10K National Championships in Pittsburgh, PA. When he wasn’t racing, he could always be found watching a ball game. Above all else though, Doug cherished his family, friends, and pets, and never met an animal he didn’t love. Doug is survived by the love of his life, his wife of 59 years June M. (Vandercher) Griset whom he married in 1963; his son, G. Douglas Griset, Jr. of Schenectady, NY; his daughter, Katherine Griset and husband Mark C. Estrada of Salem, MA; his three foster daughters: Cynthia “Smitty” IaIa of Scotia, NY, Dacia “Max” Sandlin of Scotia, NY, and Laura Cristina Russo of Seattle, WA; and his younger siblings, sister Pamala L. Griset of New Smyrna Beach, FL, and brother William J. Griset, Jr. of Salem, MA. The Griset family would like to offer their sincere gratitude to Dr. William A. Busino, Jr., Dr. Saddam S. Abisse, and the entire team at NY Oncology for their kindness and compassion. Per Doug’s wishes, he will be cremated by DeMarco-Stone Funeral Home with no service. A celebration of his life will take place in the spring or summer of 2022 to be announced later. The Griset family welcomes you to share your memories, photos and videos of Doug at https://www.demarcostonefuneralhome.com/ or https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/vLQQDoAL/gdouglasgriset. Always the optimist, Doug believed you should “never, never, never give up”, and he never did. In lieu of flowers, kindly consider sending contributions in memory of G. Douglas Griset to support cancer research and patient care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, P.O. Box 849168, Boston, MA 02284 or via www.jimmyfund.org/gift, or to the Schenectady County SPCA, P.O. Box 9516, Niskayuna, New York 12309 or via http://countyspca.com/donate-now/ in support of animal protection.