Me too. He was quite a character. Very colorful. RIP Mayor!

Would have made a fine Republican if only he could bring himself to say the word.

RIP Mr. Koch.

(On a side note, I chuckled at one of the comments made by a poster below the article. He/she was shaming Mr. Koch about him being the mayor in the "middle" of the AIDS crisis and doing zero to mitigate it. Not sure how to follow that logic, what was he suppose to do - enter everyone´s bedrooms and force them to wear condoms? New Yorkers are definately a special group of grown up children).

R.I.P. I liked Ed Koch ... a self-described "liberal with common sense."

RIP Ed

I met him once back in the sixties when he was campaigning down in the Village where I lived at the time. His warmth and humanity came through in his handshake and the few brief words we exchanged. As far apart as we were politically, I felt very close to him as a human being.

A charming man and a champion of Israel. I´m sad to see him pass. RIP

While one may have disagreed with him; all can agree that we need more of the civility and charm he exuded in ALL of our politicians today.

Mayor Koch has Daniel Pearl´s last words on his tombstone.

Further Koch died Feb. 1st. Same day as Daniel Pearl.

An honest man. RIP Ed Koch.

This obituary was ready and waiting, wasn´t it. My goodness, that´s kind of creepy.

It always seemed that whenever Koch would justifiably criticize Obama on Israel, Obama would trot out Gibbs or Carney to reassure him that Obama was the best friend Israel ever had in the Oval Office. Sickening and transparent, but it always seemed to be good enough for Ed.

RIP Mr. Koch, but you were in a position to do much better.

#10 - All the media spend a great deal of time preparing obituaries in advance now.

They can easily do this because they are not wasting any of their time covering any news stories that would show conservatives, the free market, or Republicans in a favorable light.

I liked him because he wasn´t a political hack. He was perfectly willing to publicly endorse candidates from the other side if he thought it was in the best interests of the city/state/country. He lived a good life RIP

Is the boyfriend attending the funeral?

#10, Media outlets all do this for well known people. Did you ever see the Mary Tyler Moore episode? It was hilarious

Ed Koch will be missed. He was a good man.

RIP Mr. Mayor.

Koch was a decent man - - but a political phony-baloney. When push came to shove - - he supported the hardcore leftist position every time.

He was much the same as the blowhard Pat Moynihan. The reality of their hardcore leftism trumped the phony bloviating that they did for the cameras.

I was in NYC during a good part of his mayoral tenure. I tend to agree with all the commenters above about how maddening he could be politically. What was great about him though, was like Ronald Reagan - but with a completely different demeanor - he set an optimistic tone and in that regard was a superb leader. Reagan made you remember that it´s fine to feel great about America and that you had everything to be proud of and nothing to be ashamed of and everything to look forward to. Koch did much of that same thing for NYC. It´s an intangible quality of true leadership that often trumps the substance of what the leader otherwise does.

Ed was one of those people that you liked, even if you didn´t necessarily agree. He will be missed. R.I.P.

#18 Hit it on the head. Ed made us all feel like the game wasn´t over. Just like Reagan he took a situation where decline and despair had become the default position and through force of personality, hard work and conviction turned it around. Also, both men were happy warriors. They worked hard and had a good time doing it. Both men were ardent patriots.

Remember Ed was an infantryman in Europe. He was under fire and came out a Sgt.. I´ll never forget him on St. Patricks day. SOmetimes he´d march the route several times ( nobody rides in the NYC parade St. Pat´s parade) He´d never miss Midnight Mass on Christmas either. He´d sit in the front pew at the Cathedral- he called himself "The Jew in the Pew." He was great frinds with Cardinal O´Connor (admiral O´Connor).
He leaves as what my Jewish cousins call a "Mensch." There´s nothing better can be said of a man.