Ed Koch (Jon Thaler)
(
)
Even in death, former Mayor Ed Koch rewards loyalty and continues to give to the city he loved.
In his will, filed publicly yesterday, Koch bequeathed $850,000 in cash, including $100,000 to his loyal secretary, Mary Garrigan, who had worked with him since he hired her in 1976 for his congressional office.
That was the year before Koch was elected the colorful thumbs-up mayor who loomed over New York politics for a dozen years in City Hall.
Koch, who died Feb. 1 at age 88 from congestive heart failure, left a chunk of his estate to his sister, Pat Thaler, who also was appointed executor of his will.
Koch left his sister and her husband $500,000 in cash, along with all the rest of his valuables not earmarked for historical archives.
Court papers listed his net worth at more than $10.5 million.
Koch never made more than $130,000 a year as mayor, but did cash in with several books and jobs as a television and radio commentator and a lawyer.
He was a judge on TV’s “The People’s Court” from 1997 to 1999.
Although Koch never married and had no children of his own, friends and family said he doted on his nieces and nephews.
In the will, Koch also gave $50,000 to his brother’s widow, Gail Koch; $50,000 to nephew Andrew Koch, and $50,000 to niece Joey Koch.
The former mayor also gave $100,000 to the La Guardia and Wagner Educational Fund for “creating a program and bearing my name to promote public and government service.”
Koch signed the nine-page will, filed in Manhattan Surrogate Court, on Nov. 15, 2007.
The gregarious mayor — whose catch phrase was “How’m I doin’?” — also left a treasure trove of political memorabilia to the New-York Historical Society.
Many of Koch’s papers and an oral history had already been given to the La Guardia and Wagner Archives at La Guardia Community College.