How’s Ed Koch tombstone doin’.
Horrible!
In a major blunder, the former mayor’s tombstone at Trinity Church in Washington Heights was mistakenly engraved with the wrong birth date.
The date of birth given is Dec. 12, 1942 instead of 1924.
The gaffe is enough to bring Koch — a proud World War II veteran and stickler for details — right out of his grave, after a brief chuckle and then some outrage.
“Do you belieeeevvveee it???!!!,” longtime Koch confidante George Arzt said in his best Koch imitation. “Correct the record!”
“We’re correcting the record, Ed,” Arzt said.
The irony is that Koch had planned just about every detail of his funeral plans for years in advance.
Koch, 88, died of congestive heart failure on Feb. 1. His tombstone had been in place for several months.
But it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that the date of birth and death were inscribed by a stone cutter.
A manager for Trinity noticed the error recently and immediately reached out to Koch’s family and associates, sources said.
Arzt said he received a call from Trinity official and was asked, `Are you sitting down?’”
“It took my breath away,” Arzt said when told of the goof.
The funeral arrangements were handled by Flynn Funeral Home and Cremation Services, which hired the stone cutter who made the mistake and will make the correction.