Ed Koch. Photo: Provided photo.

Ed Koch

Former Mayor of New York

The recently deceased former mayor of New York never shied away from his religion and remained a tireless advocate of the state of Israel throughout his life. Published regularly in The Algemeiner, even the epithets he chose to inscribe on his tombstone celebrated his faith. The first, “My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish,” were the words spoken by Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl shortly before he was killed in Afghanistan in 2002, the second “Hear, O Israel, The Lord Our God, The Lord is One,” taken from the Book of Deuteronomy and the third, “He was fiercely proud of his Jewish faith. He fiercely defended the City of New York, and he fiercely loved the people of the City of New York.”

NOTE: Koch is the only person listed on the Jewish 100 who is no longer alive. As he was living at the time when the compilation of this list began, The Algemeiner editors elected not to remove him.