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Rudolph W. Giuliani, who defeated David N. Dinkins in the 1993 New York mayoral election, was among the public figures to commemorate Mr. Dinkins in the hours following the death of his predecessor on Monday night at 93 years.
Mr. Giuliani, who had been among the most severe critics of Mr. Dinkins, said on twitter Tuesday morning that his predecessor had devoted “a large part of his life to the service of our great City”. He added: “This service is respected and honored by all.”
New York State Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement that Mr. Dinkins inspired his candidacies for public office.
“The example Mayor David Dinkins set for all of us shines brighter than the most powerful lighthouse imaginable,” said Ms. James, who broke racial and gender barriers when she was elected to her current post in 2018.
“For decades, Mayor Dinkins has led with compassion and an unprecedented commitment to our communities,” added Ms. James. “His deliberative and gracious demeanor belied his ardent passion to challenge the inequalities that plague our society.”
Mr. Dinkins liked to call New Yorkers a “magnificent mosaic,” and he saw himself as a peacemaker able to subdue the passions of multicultural neighborhoods with patience and dignity.
Ms James nodded at the idea: “The voice that gave birth to the ‘magnificent mosaic’ is now at rest,” she wrote.
Mr. Dinkins, the son of a barber, became New York’s first black mayor in 1990.
He was rejected by voters after a term amid criticism over his handling of four days of racial violence in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Mr. Giuliani beat him by sweeping the white ethnic neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island that formed his political base.
Mr. Giuliani, who is now President Trump’s personal lawyer, and Fiorello H. La Guardia, who ruled New York City in the 1930s and 1940s, were arguably the city’s most dominant mayors in the 20th century.
Mr Dinkins, on the other hand, was a cautious and deliberate Harlem Democrat who rose to mayor through relatively minor elective and nominal offices.
Mr. Dinkins died at his Manhattan home, less than two months after the death of his wife, Joyce.
African-American politicians in New York were among those condolence tweets in the hours following his death.
“We have lost another giant,” New York Representative Yvette Clarke from Brooklyn, written on twitter. “My thoughts and prayers are with the Dinkins family as we remember the mayor’s great legacy in New York City.”
Jamaal T. Bailey, a state senator from the Bronx, called Mr. Dinkins “a true pioneer and a legend. “
“People like me follow in your footsteps, ”he wrote. “Representation matters. Thank you for leading the way. “
“So nice; So brilliant; So selfless! wrote Michael Blake, a member of the New York State Assembly from the Bronx. “THANK YOU, Mayor Dinkins. Rest well, good and faithful servant ”.
Journalists who knew Mr. Dinkins also weighed on his life and legacy.
“We got to cover Mayor David Dinkins for @AP when he went to the Dominican Republic ”, David Beard, former Associated Press writer, said in a tweet. “People treated Dinkins like a rock star, like their own president.”
Long-time sports journalist Jane McManus, recalled that Mr. Dinkins was loved by many who worked at the US Open tennis tournament.
“I was surprised to see someone I knew as a sober politician being so friendly and such a tennis fan, seemed to have always had that warm half smile for the people he knew,” Ms. McManus wrote. , who now runs the Sports Communication Center at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY
“He and Bud Collins are probably debating the best games they’ve ever seen,” she wrote, referring to a legendary tennis journalist who died in 2016.
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