Ed Koch Gravestone Carries Daniel Pearl's Last Words: 'My Father Is Jewish, My Mother Is Jewish, I Am Jewish'

New York City Mayor Ed Koch, who died on Friday, inscribed American journalist Daniel Pearl's last words on his gravestone. Pearl died 11 years earlier on the same day.

Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. He was working as the South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal when he went to Pakistan for an al Qaeda-related interview. Shortly after his death, a video showing Pearl's brutal murder was released. The journalist was beheaded after he said, "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish."

According to the Associated Press, Koch purchased his plot at the nondenominational Trinity Church Cemetery in 2008. He had his gravestone inscribed and installed shortly after. In addition to Pearl's last words, Koch inscribed the Jewish prayer in both English and Hebrew, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One."

(h/t Poynter)