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How's He Doin' Update: Ed Koch Has His Gravestone Ready
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 1, 2009
Modified Mar 1, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 1, 2009
Modified Mar 1, 2009
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Former mayor Ed Koch is nothing but prepared: The NY Times and NY Post report how the outgoing octogenarian has his tombstone ready and engraved. He already has a plot at Trinity Church Cemetery in Washington Heights and the tombstone will read: "EDWARD I. KOCH Mayor of the City of New York 1978-1989," plus slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's words before he died, "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish," a Jewish prayer ("Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One") and the epitaph he wrote—"He was fiercely proud of his Jewish faith. He fiercely defended the City of New York, and he fiercely loved its people. Above all, he loved his country, the United States of America, in whose armed forces he served in World War II."
A friend tells the Post, "Everybody thinks its strange, he knows its strange. He's been talking about this for a couple of years." Koch was more forthcoming with the Times, "We all die. Whenever he or she wants me, I go...I had a conversation with God: ‘Take me totally or don’t take me. No salami tactics.’ He’s been very good about it." But he added that he wanted to "die at my desk."
The Times also spoke with Koch about Mario Cuomo, whom he defeated in the 1977 mayoral race—there was a "Vote for Cuomo, not the homo" poster. Koch said, "I’m not settling any scores. I absolutely have no grudges. That’s over with. It’s not that I love those people. I don’t, but it takes too much energy if you think about who injured you.”
In the meantime, Koch's movie reviews can be read in The Villager. Last year, he discussed his movie critique-skills (and pan of Wall-E) with the Forward: "I wish 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' was on every night. I might not go to another movie."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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