Edward I. Koch (born 1924) was one of New York City's most controversial mayors. He led the city from the edge of bankruptcy in 1978 to a substantial budget surplus in 1983.

Edward I. Koch was born December 12, 1924, in New York City, the second of three children born to Russian-Jewish immigrants Louis and Joyce Silpe Koch. When his pantsmaker father fell on hard times during the Depression, Edward, then age six, and his family moved in with relatives in Newark, New Jersey, in 1931. Ten years later they returned to New York City. Koch graduated with honors from high school and attended City College from 1941 to 1943 until drafted into the U.S. Army. Koch served in Europe as an infantryman, won two battle citations, and was discharged in 1946. After the war he took an accelerated course at New York University Law School, was graduated in 1948, and was admitted to the bar the...