Sean Patrick Maloney: “if anyone watching tonight has ever called New York ``the Big Apple'' or uttered the words ``I love New York,'' I hope…”

“if anyone watching tonight has ever called New York ``the Big Apple'' or uttered the words ``I love New York,'' I hope they will join me tonight in remembering the man who brought those phrases into the public domain. His name was Lewis Rudin, but he was better known as ``Mr. New York.'' On September 20, at the end of his 80th summer, Lew Rudin died of cancer. We all know what happened in New York 9 days earlier. As we look to rebuild and renew New York after the tragic events of September 11, we must do so with Lew Rudin's vigor, vision, imagination, spirit, and wholehearted love for our great city. At a time when the city's skyline has two gigantic cavities, I take heart in knowing that it is populated with so many buildings developed by Lew and his family. The Rudin family has never sold a building it developed, embodying a virtue that too few people value and practice today, and that is loyalty. Lew was fiercely loyal to his family, his friends, his city, and his father's commitment to rewarding New York because New York had rewarded his family. Lew was a tireless booster and advocate for New York City.”