By Howard Koplowitz
The family of Rockaway resident Andrew Koppel, son of former “Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel, called his Memorial Day death following a daylong drinking binge in Manhattan “a devastating tragedy.”
Ilona Lieberman, Koppel’s pregnant girlfriend whom he lived with in Rockaway Park and the mother of his young daughter Alice, said he was a “generous, loving and compassionate father, partner and friend. Our family grieves enormously,” in a statement read by her sister, Michelle Lieberman, Tuesday in front of their parents’ home in Rockaway Beach, the New York Post reported.
“This has been a devastating tragedy for our family,” Ilona Lieberman said in the statement.
A family friend said Koppel’s death was puzzling considering he was far from his Rockaway home and it would be odd for him to be drinking with a stranger on a holiday weekend, the Post reported.
Koppel, son of former ABC anchor Ted Koppel, used to work as a lawyer for the city Housing Authority. Lieberman is a professional photographer.
Ted Koppel and his wife, Grace Anne, called their son “a brilliant, caring man, whose loss we will mourn for the rest of our lives” in a statement.
A spokesman for the city Police Department’s public information arm said it had no details of Koppel’s death.
A spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office said an autopsy was inconclusive and further investigation as to how Andrew Koppel died was needed, including tissue and toxicology tests. She said the cause of death will not be known for a couple of weeks.
Koppel spent Monday drinking with a man he met at a bar in Hell’s Kitchen and was taken to an apartment in Washington Heights, which belonged to a woman who was a drinking buddy of the man, at around 11 p.m. Monday, the Post reported.
Paramedics were dispatched to the apartment at 180th Street and Audubon Avenue at around 1:30 a.m. and found Koppel unconscious and not breathing, sources told the Post.
Belinda Caban, who lives in the apartment, said Koppel “was really messed up when he came in. He was very drunk,” according to the Post.
Russel Wimberley, a waiter who Koppel met at the Midtown bar at around 11 a.m. Monday, took Koppel to the apartment and he and Caban let him sleep for a couple of hours, the Post said.
They then discovered him in the bed not breathing and called 911, the paper said.
Neither Wimberly nor Caban have been charged in Koppel’s death, according to the Post.
Wimberly told the Post Koppel “drank straight whiskey” and said they should go to different bars in the area, with Koppel sipping a bottle of Jameson along the way.
The Post said Koppel was the third-youngest of retired television journalist Ted Koppel’s four children and his only son. He had a history of drinking problems, according to published reports.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
