You did not have to grow up in New York City to know the name Ed
Koch. He served as Mayor for three terms
from 1978-1989, and used his sometimes combative style to rescue the city from
near financial ruin.
He was a quintessential New Yorker and one of
the city’s most popular and outspoken politicians - known for his no nonsense
in-your-face, colorful personality, and his trademark question asked of friends
and foes alike - "How'm I doin'?" Koch lived a life as big as the city he
served – not afraid to speak his mind. He lived with a passion for politics and
the Big Apple.
Son
of immigrants
Edward Irving
Koch was born to Polish Jewish immigrants in the Bronx, NY in 1924. His parents Louis
and Yetta (later Americanized to Joyce) arrived in New York separately as teenagers
from Poland in the early 1900s – Louis
traveled from the village of Uścieszko in the Galician frontier. He
became a furrier and a partner in a shop until it folded during the Depression
in 1931.
Ed was
drafted out of college by the army to serve in World War II as a combat
infantryman in Europe. Honorably
discharged with the rank of Sergeant, he returned home and practiced law before
turning to a political career. A lifelong Democrat, Koch served on City
Council, then three terms in the Congress.
In 1977, he became New York’s 105th Mayor – a job Koch often said he
wanted for life.
After leaving office, Koch remained active and popular. He practiced law, wrote more than a dozen
books, came into the homes of many TV viewers as the Judge on the People’s Court, was a radio broadcaster,
an inveterate movie reviewer, and became an enthusiastic Twitter user. He
also endured a stroke, a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery.
Ed Koch was involved with the Consulate General of Poland in New York for special events, such as the dedication of the Jan Karski monument. The sculpture was formally dedicated by the former Mayor, who also renamed the intersection where the statue resides as “Jan Karski Corner.”
He
was direct, unpredictable, and had an irrepressible character, but he claimed
that the Ed Koch you saw was not who he was.
“I knew that to get attention, to get it done, and to get people to
listen and support, you have to be bigger than life,” said Koch.
Much to his frustration the former Mayor was too ill to attend the
premiere of the film Koch – a
documentary about his life was released.
Ironically, the film opened to the general public on the day of his
passing.
Larger-than-life, the ebullient Ed Koch embodied New York chutzpah for
the rest of the world. "How'm I doin'?" You did good!
