Edward Koch

Edward Irving Koch was born in the Bronx. He served as the 105th Mayor of the City of New York for three terms from 1978 to 1989. In 1989, he ran for a fourth term as Mayor and was defeated by David Dinkins.

Prior to being Mayor, Koch served for nine years as a Member of Congress and two years as a member of the City Council. He attended the City College of New York from 1941 to 1943. In 1943, he was drafted into the Army where he served with the 104th Infantry Division. He received two battle stars, and was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant in 1946. In that year, he attended New York University Law School, where he received his LLB degree in 1948. He began the practice of law in 1949.

Koch is credited with many major achievements as Mayor. First and foremost, he restored fiscal stability to the City of New York, being responsible for placing the City on a GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practices) balanced budget basis with ten such balanced budgets during his administration. In addition, he created the first merit selection system in New York City for the selection of Criminal and Family Court judges, as well as filling interim Civil Court vacancies.

He is currently a partner in the law firm of Robinson, Silverman, Pearce, Aronsohn & Berman. Koch has his own talk show on WABC 77 AM and he writes a weekly column for the Daily News. Koch also appeared daily on the television series The People's Court. He lectures around the country and overseas, his commentaries can be seen internationally on Bloomberg Television, and his movie reviews appear in seven New York papers.

Koch is the author of the following books: Mayor, 1984; Politics, 1985; His Eminence and Hizzoner, 1989; All The Best, 1990; Citizen Koch, 1992; Ed Koch on Everything, 1994; Murder at City Hall, 1995; Murder on Broadway, 1996; and Murder on 34th Street, 1997.