The American flag flies at half-staff outside City Hall to honor the death of former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, in New York. Koch, the combative politician who rescued the city from near-financial ruin during three City Hall terms, died Friday morning of congestive heart failure at age 88. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
February 04, 2013 - 12:28 AM
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Ed Koch is being remembered as the quintessential New Yorker — an admired but tough former mayor who will be honoured at his funeral by former President Bill Clinton.
At the service Monday morning at Manhattan's Temple Emanu-El, mourners will also hear about Koch's other fierce loyalty: Israel. The Israeli consul general is set to speak, along with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Koch died Friday of congestive heart failure at age 88.
On Saturday, friends from Koch's weekly Greenwich Village luncheon gathering got together, two weeks after his last meal with them.
The funeral will be held at one of the nation's most prominent synagogues, a Reform Jewish congregation on Fifth Avenue. Bloomberg is a member, as are comedian Joan Rivers and former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013