66 Facts About Ed Koch

Edward Irving Koch was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality.

Ed Koch served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989.

Ed Koch was a lifelong Democrat who described himself as a "liberal with sanity".

Ed Koch crossed party lines to endorse Rudy Giuliani for mayor of New York City in 1993, Al D'Amato for Senate in 1998, Michael Bloomberg for mayor of New York City in 2001, and George W Bush for president in 2004.

Ed Koch was born in Crotona Park East section of The Bronx borough of New York City, the son of Yetta and Louis Ed Koch, Polish-Jewish immigrants from Kozliv and Uscieczko in Eastern Galicia.

Ed Koch came from a family of Conservative Jews who resided in Newark, New Jersey, where his father worked at a theater.

Ed Koch graduated from South Side High School in Newark in 1941.

Ed Koch did his basic training at at Camp Croft, SC in 1943 before entering the Army Specialized Training Program.

Ed Koch earned a European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two campaign stars, a World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge for service in the European Theater of Operations.

Ed Koch was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant in 1946.

Ed Koch returned to New York City to attend City College of New York, graduating in 1945, and New York University School of Law, receiving his law degree in 1948.

In 1962 Ed Koch ran for office for the first time, unsuccessfully opposing incumbent William Passannante, a DeSapio ally, for the Democratic nomination for the State Assembly.

In 1963, Ed Koch defeated DeSapio for the position of Democratic Party leader for the district which included Greenwich Village, and Ed Koch won again in a 1965 rematch.

Ed Koch served on the New York City Council from 1967 to 1969.

Ed Koch ran for Congress in New York's 17th congressional district after Republican Theodore Roosevelt Kupferman retired.

Ed Koch briefly ran for mayor in 1973, but garnered little support and dropped out before the Democratic primary.

Ed Koch threw his support to State Assemblyman Albert H Blumenthal, but Blumenthal's bid was derailed by a scandal and he came in third.

Ed Koch won reelection to the 18th district against John Boogaerts Jr.

Ed Koch ran to the right of the other candidates on a "law and order" platform.

Ed Koch won both the Democratic and Republican nominations and appeared on the ballot with both of their lines.

Ed Koch ran strongly in Jewish communities, while Cuomo won black, liberal, and Italian communities by a similar margin.

Ed Koch's remarks are thought to have alienated many voters from outside New York City.

Ed Koch lost the Democratic primary to Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins, who finished with 547,901 votes to Ed Koch's 456,313.

Dinkins was helped in part by large margins in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn, while Ed Koch carried Staten Island and Queens.

Dinkins defeated Rudy Giuliani in the general election by a narrow margin, with Giuliani carrying both counties Ed Koch won in the primary.

Ed Koch was the Democratic US Representative from New York's 17th congressional district from January 3,1969, until January 3,1973, when, after a redistricting, he represented New York's 18th congressional district until December 31,1977, when he resigned to become Mayor of New York City.

At about the same time, Ed Koch began his rightward shift toward being a "liberal with sanity" after reviewing the 1973 controversy around then-New York City Mayor John Lindsay's attempt to place a 3,000-person housing project in a middle-class community in Forest Hills, Queens.

Ed Koch met with residents of the community, most of whom were against the proposal.

Ed Koch was convinced by their arguments, and spoke out against the plan, shocking some of his liberal allies.

Ed Koch was active in advocating for a greater US role in advancing human rights within the context of fighting Communism.

Ed Koch had particular influence in the foreign aid budget, as he sat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations.

In 1976, Ed Koch proposed that the US cut off military aid and supplies to the military dictatorship of Uruguay.

Ed Koch subsequently asked both the CIA and the FBI for protection, but none was extended.

When Ed Koch took office, the city was reeling from high crime, a devastating blackout, and a fiscal crisis.

Ed Koch dealt with the second transit strike, and pushed for the 1980 Democratic National Convention to be in NYC.

Ed Koch often deviated from the conventional liberal line, strongly supporting the death penalty, adding 3,500 officers to the NYPD in the 1980s, and taking a hard line on "quality of life" issues, such as giving police broader powers in dealing with the homeless and signing legislation banning the playing of radios on subways and buses.

In 1984, Ed Koch published his first memoir, Mayor, which became a best-seller and was adapted into an off-Broadway and later Broadway musical, Mayor.

In 1986, Ed Koch signed a lesbian and gay rights ordinance for the city after the City Council passed the measure, after 15 years of failed attempts by that body to approve such legislation.

The Health Department, with Ed Koch's approval, reacted by ordering the heterosexual clubs, including Plato's Retreat, to close as well.

Also in 1986, Ed Koch participated in Hands Across America and in the Statue of Liberty's 100th anniversary celebration.

In July 1987, Ed Koch proposed banning bicycling on Fifth, Park and Madison Avenues during weekdays, but many bicyclists protested and had the ban overturned.

Ed Koch became a controversial figure in the 1988 presidential campaign with his public criticism of Democratic candidate Jesse Jackson, who surprised many political observers by winning key primaries in March and running even with the front-runner, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis.

Ed Koch became an adjunct professor at New York University and the judge on The People's Court for two years following the retirement of Judge Joseph Wapner.

Ed Koch regularly appeared on the lecture circuit, and had a high-rated talk show on WABC radio.

Ed Koch formed an organization called New York Uprising to push for statewide redistricting reform.

In May 2011, Ed Koch sat for a portrait by Dmitry Borshch that has been exhibited at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, DePaul University, Brecht Forum, and CUNY Graduate Center, and is included in the Catalog of American Portraits at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.

Ed Koch began appearing in weekly movie review segments for an online show, Mayor at the Movies, in the summer of 2009.

Ed Koch was an avid moviegoer who often saw two or three movies a weekend.

Ed Koch's reviews were outspoken and wry, with his rating system consisting not of stars but of a "plus" for a good film or a "minus" for a bad one.

Ed Koch sought out great documentaries, and had a particular passion for anything of Jewish interest.

Ed Koch had a particular passion for independent cinema and documentaries, but enjoyed dramas and action films as well.

Ed Koch endorsed Democrats, including Eliot Spitzer for governor in the 2006 election.

Ed Koch took back his endorsement of Spitzer in the aftermath of the governor's prostitution scandal.

Ed Koch resumed his attacks, and had the book republished, in 2007, after Giuliani announced his candidacy for president.

Ed Koch originally endorsed Hillary Clinton for president during the 2008 campaign, then endorsed Democratic nominee Barack Obama in the general election.

In October 2012, Ed Koch told Al Sharpton that after a conversation with Obama about his position on Israel he was satisfied, and endorsed his reelection.

Early in 2013, Ed Koch endorsed Christine Quinn in the Democratic primary for that year's mayoral election.

Ed Koch often wrote in defense of Israel and against antisemitism.

Ed Koch praised New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, saying that he had the right approach in reducing government spending and refraining from raising taxes.

In July 2007, Ed Koch wrote that he was "bailing out" of his previous support for that war, due to the failure of the United States' NATO allies, and other Arab countries, to contribute to the war effort.

Ed Koch was a resident of Greenwich Village for most of his adult life.

In 1989, Koch was interviewed about a book he had coauthored with Cardinal John J O'Connor.

Ed Koch had a mild stroke in 1987, but was able to resume his duties as mayor within about a week.

In 2022, his former spokesman, George Arzt, suggested that the anxiety Ed Koch experienced amid efforts to out him during the period caused a decline in his health, which he said might have contributed to the stroke.

Ed Koch's funeral took place on February 4,2013, at Temple Emanu-El, a Reform Jewish congregation in Manhattan.

Ed Koch purchased a burial plot in Trinity Church Cemetery in April 2008 so that he could be buried in Manhattan.