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Subscribe to RSSOne of the city's most outspoken politicians, Ed Koch was known for his no-nonsense, colorful personality. A lifelong Democrat, he became New York's 105 mayor, a job he said he wanted for life. He died of congestive heart failure Friday morning at the age of 88. NBC's Ron Allen reports.
Former New York City Mayor Edward Irving Koch, a man as colorful as the city he helped save from financial ruin, died Friday of congestive heart failure. He was 88.
His brashness and thumbs-up confidence – and “How’m I doin?” greeting – became symbols of Gotham chutzpah over his three terms at the city’s helm. And while New Yorkers did not always answer Hizzoner’s trademark question in the affirmative, Koch couldn’t have cared less as he tried to govern a city that many thought was ungovernable. He finally left City Hall in 1989.
“I’m the sort of person who will never get ulcers,” he told reporters in 1978. “Why? Because I say exactly what I think. I’m the sort of person who might give other people ulcers.”
Reverend Al Sharpton, who locked horns with Koch through his time as mayor, praised the man he criticized as forthright in a statement on his passing.
“He would not patronize or deceive you,” said Sharpton, an MSNBC host, remembering that his first arrest for civil disobedience was at a 1978 sit-in protesting a Koch policy. “He said what he meant. He meant what he said. He fought for what he believed in.”
Born in the Bronx in 1924, Koch and his family soon decamped to Newark, New Jersey, where he spent his childhood. After graduating from high school at the age of 16, Koch returned to the city he loved and enrolled at the City College of New York, but his undergraduate studies were interrupted by World War II when he was drafted in 1943.
After serving as an infantryman in Europe, Koch enrolled at New York University Law School. He built up a law practice before he entered politics to support Adlai Stevenson’s presidential campaign in 1952.
Koch’s own political career began in earnest in the early 1960s, organizing for the Democratic party in Greenwich Village on Manhattan’s west side. In 1963, he ousted Tammany Hall chief Carmine DeSapio, winning a post as a district leader.
Ed Koch served 12 years as mayor of New York, from 1977-1989. He passed away on Friday at the age of 88, succumbing to congestive heart failure.
From 1969 to 1977, Koch served as a congressman representing New York’s 17th Congressional District. He mounted an unlikely run for mayor in 1977, ultimately defeating better-known candidates including incumbent Abraham Beame and congresswoman Bella Abzug.
Throughout his career, Koch was known for his Bronx-flavored bon mots. “If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me,” Koch once said. “If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist.”
And he brought his forceful personality and attention to detail to the job of mayor, said New York City historian Fred Siegel.
“His campaign slogan was ‘Why not try competence?’ and he demonstrates it. He really knows the budget, he’s on top of things,” Siegel said of Koch’s first years in office. Later, however, Koch “lost interest in the details of running the city,” Siegel said.
Koch’s aspirations went beyond the five boroughs, but more illustrious offices eluded him. A bid for governor in 1982 was felled by Mario M. Cuomo.
Yet the same personality that helped bring Koch national fame also divided some New Yorkers against him over time.
In 2012, Koch recalled walking to the Brooklyn Bridge during a 1980 transit strike to exhort commuters. “I began to yell, ‘Walk over the bridge! Walk over the bridge! We’re not going to let these bastards bring us to our knees!’” Koch recalled.
“His mouth got in the way of his policies,” said investigative journalist Wayne Barrett, who chronicled the Koch years.
The mayor, however, remained forever close-lipped about the most private areas of his personal life, even as some speculated about his sexuality.
While opponents occasionally tried to make political hay of the whispers, Koch responded with silence: “Whether I am straight or gay or bisexual is nobody’s business but mine,” he wrote in his 1992 autobiography.
Koch’s final term was tarnished by corruption, as a scandal involving Queens Borough President Donald Manes threatened to ensnare the mayor, but never did. He lost a shot at a fourth term to the more reserved David Dinkins.
“The people have spoken,” Koch said on the occasion of his losing, “and they must be punished.”
But Koch, who became the first city mayor to host Saturday Night Live in 1983, did not allow his national profile to dim after losing the luster of the mayoralty. He also published a collection of newspaper columns critical of Rudy Giuliani in 1999 titled “Giuliani: Nasty Man.” And for two years in the late Nineties, he wore a black robe on the television show “People’s Court.”
On Friday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo – the son of former governor Mario -- paid tribute to the man who won’t be leaving New York, even in death. (Koch bought one of Manhattan’s last burial plots for $20,000 in 2008.)
“No New Yorker has – or likely ever will – voice their love for New York City in such a passionate and outspoken manner than Ed Koch,” Cuomo said. “Mr. Mayor was never one to shy away from taking a stand that he believed was right, no matter what the polls said or what was politically correct.”
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement that the city had lost “an irrepressible icon, our most charismatic cheerleader and champion.”
Senator Charles Schumer lauded Koch as a man of whom New Yorker’s could be proud: “Every atom in his body lived, breathed, spoke, and exuded the city. He helped save the city and, perhaps most important of all, gave it confidence when it was beginning to doubt itself, which helped pave the way for the growth and prosperity we’re still experiencing today.”
Koch died around 2 a.m. Friday after battling a variety of illnesses. He had been hospitalized in September with anemia and in December with a respiratory infection, before his final hospitalization this week.
A funeral service will be held on Monday.
MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski reports that Ed Koch, the former three-term mayor of New York City, died of congestive heart failure, at the age of 88.
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R.I.P. Mayor Koch. You may be gone but you will never be forgotten.
One of the only liberals I know to tell the truth and spend tax payer money as cautiously as if it were his own for the common good and for the good of the City he loved that and loved him. RIP ED We will miss your wit and wisdom.
R I P Ed Koch, the man who saved New York City when he was Mayor.
Ed Koch was a "liberal with sanity." He was tough on crime, frugal with taxpayer dollars, and had no patience for left-wing social experiments. Many of his policies helped prepare the city for the tougher medicine that Mayor Rudy Giuliani delivered in the 1990s. He crossed party lines and voted for or endorsed Republicans about two-dozen times during his career. "As John Kennedy once said, 'Sometimes party loyalty demands too much,'" he explained.
Very sincere condolences to the family and friends of this great man.
Ed Koch, while a politician, he was a breed unlike the politicians of today. HE made the tough choices NOT for personal gain, but for the good of the city and people he SERVED. He was a great leader for the city and the city prospered under his leadership.
Maybe if politicians of today studied and emulated what Mayor Koch did for New York City and put that on a state and FEDERAL scale, many if not all of the problems facing America could be effectively and efficiently solved.
Rest in peace Ed.... you've earned it.
God bless him and his family. He will be missed he was bigger than life and twice as smart.
I find it totally disgusting that people like Sharpton, Cuomo and the rest all praise Koch for being so forthright, honest, and not worrying about being politically correct. Then they all turn around and act like they are gods, are as crooked as they come, and they keep perpetuating the socialist mantra. Koch got into it, got it right and got NYC out of the red. Why can't any of them do that today?? Because they care about votes, their party, their ego, and to hell with the citizens.
Ed, may you rest in peace. We need more politicians like you and not the wimpy ones we have today.
DITTO got that right.
Rest in peace - Ed Koch - person of Great Character
I met Ed Koch when he ran for his 2nd term... I was living at 65 Rivington Street, Lower East Side, he came out right in front of my building in a white subcompact Ford Pinto... I am 6' 1", he was taller than me and I was surprised by the fact he came out of such a small car... I said "welcome to Knickerbocker" which was the original name for that part of town, he replied, "Oh, you really know New York history", where I said, "'yes, I'm the mayor here"... he laughed and shook my hand which was also large and very warm, then he walked over to Orchard Street to do a bit of campaigning, it was a great sunny day for a good man who had to deal with all the crooked people in government at the time, he took the rap for most, if not all of the backstabbers in this city and in my opinion did the best he could at the time... God Bless You Ed, You are loved and missed by all true New Yorkers!
A special man has passed. God Bless Mayor Koch. Rest in peace...
I always like him. I remember when he hosted SNL and in the skit he was saving someone from jumping off the ledge, when he announced to the crowd "don't worry, I'll save him I'm the Mayor of New York City" the crowd started shouting "jump,jump,jump.
Also on the first day of school some time in the 80's he got press coverage at the kindegarten class he was visiting, one little boy wasn't too sure he wanted to stay, so Koch says if you stay you'll have fun with the other kids, etc, so the boy decides to stay, there was a play phone on the table and Koch picked up and said "Hello Mommy, Johnny decided he'll stay and play with the children today", makes ya wonder what he would've done if little Johnny decided to go home while Koch was on his call.
This Man made me fall in love with a city I had never been to. I loved his smile and laugh on Letterman. When they made him they broke the mold. Blessed Be
Rest in peace Ed, you were one of the good ones!
NO ONE Will miss that NASTY Zionist bastard.
he burned way too many bridges.. pissed off many ppl.
1 less ugly hook nosed ruthless dictator.
JR...you must be one miserable f*ck to come on here and say such ridiculous bullsh*t.
Please do us all a favor and go swallow a bottle of Drano. The world will be much better off without your negativity and stupidity.
Rest in peace, Ed Koch.
You started your political career as a blithering idiot liberal democRAT, but something happened along the way. You had an epiphany and realized, like Reagan did, that the democRAT party had left you behind and became more radicalized, feminized and socialized.
You started mentioning fiscally and socially conservative principles in your speeches and realized that you were more in line with republican ideals of individual responsibility and limited guv'mint than you were with the central planners in your own party. Although you never changed parties, you became a principled man in the end.
May God have mercy on your soul.
I could have gone all day remebering the guy as a good mayor in a tough town, but no, someone had to make this partisan..What a shame. People are so sick.
Mephisto...did your mother have any kids that lived?
RIP Mr. Mayor! A true leader and honest man!! NYC will miss you...there won't be another one like him. Here's hoping you can enjoy that bagel with a schmear....!!
I always liked him. Condolences to his family and friends.
Why is it that Al Sharpton has to be the one to get in on this article. They couldn't find someone else instead of putting him into the spotlight again. The less his name is mentioned the better. It seems to me that he is always looking to stir things up and will take any opportunity to do so. The Mayor did great things for the city. We need someone to do that now (and for the country). And for the record Al Sharpton is not the one to do it. My condolences to his family and friends.
God Bless Ed Koch. One icon of NYC that made NYC a better place. No BS from that man.
My Condolences to the Koch Family. My mother sang at his third Mayoral Inaguration on the steps of City Hall!
It's sad news that we have lost this wonderful, colorful gentleman.
RIP Mr. Koch.
R.I.P. Mr. Mayor. You embodied who we are as New Yorker's and we love you for it . Straight to the point brutally honet and loving. You cared about the City on a whole and left know one out good bad or indifferent. My Condolances to the family and a tremendous loss. A time gone by that was a jewel in my Life. Mr. Mayor to answer your question " YOU DID GREAT " !
Rest in Peace, Mr. Mayor...New York City misses you already.....you made a difference and we thank you......