Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch Gets a First-Class Online Sendoff

Ed Koch, the former three-term mayor of New York City, passed away Friday morning from congestive heart failure. He was 88.

The New York Times posted a video obituary for Koch. He opened the video by looking directly into the camera and asking, "Do you miss me?"




Current New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg released a statement through Twitter:

RIP @mayoredkoch. NYC will miss you dearly instagram.com/p/VMC-5qKH8f/

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 1, 2013

Ed Koch's spirit will live on here at City Hall, on the bridge the bears his name, and all across the five boroughs bit.ly/Xc6Uxd

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 1, 2013

We will miss Ed Koch dearly, but his good works, and his wit & wisdom, will forever be a part of the city he loved bit.ly/Xc6Uxd

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 1, 2013

Reporters, citizens, and politicians took to the internet to reminisce on the often personal touch Koch had on them.

When I was a nobody reporter, he would still take my calls. I remember it being such a thrill. RIP @mayoredkoch

— Andrew J. Hawkins (@andyjayhawk) February 1, 2013

I once sat next to Ed Koch at Hedwig & The Angry Inch. #truestory

— Ryan J. Davis (@RyanNewYork) February 1, 2013

RIP Ed Koch, Mayor of NYC during much of my childhood in Queens. Lucky to have met him & received a hug & words of inspiration. #HowAmIDoing

— Elana Margolis (@elanahm) February 1, 2013

Ed Koch, I remember when you gave my Dad an award from the City of New York and I shook your hand.

— helen crawford (@helenfcrawford) February 1, 2013

My first job was in the NYC Law Department, which Ed Koch (and Fritz Schwarz) profoundly transformed and improved. RIP Mayor Koch

— Joseph A. Tranfo (@JATranfo) February 1, 2013

@glennthrush he was the subject of the first article I wrote at age 7

— maggie haberman (@maggiepolitico) February 1, 2013

RIP my dear friend @mayoredkoch. Mr. Mayor, you were an inspiration to all and I will think of you every day.

— Al D'Amato (@AlDAmatoNY) February 1, 2013

Ed Koch, the greatest and most flawed politician I ever saw -- died. I somehow never thought he would.

— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) February 1, 2013

For all Koch's accessibility to reporters, he always kept his own recording of most interviews, determined not to be misquoted

— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) February 1, 2013

There was very little dissent to Koch, but it did pop up.

Ed Koch is being lionized like Ronald Reagan when he should be condemned for helping to turn Manhattan into a playground for the rich.

— Edward Champion (@drmabuse) February 1, 2013

Buzzfeed shared a collection of longhand letters Koch wrote in response to emails he received—he responded to every email he got in this way.

Poynter Institute pointed out the words on Koch's gravestone, which he had planned for years: "The marker will bear the Star of David and a Hebrew prayer, 'Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.' It also will be inscribed with the last words of journalist Daniel Pearl before he was murdered by terrorists in 2002: 'My father is Jewish. My mother is Jewish. I am Jewish.'"

USA Today called him a "symbol of NYC."