Remembering former NYC Mayor David Dinkins: Glowing tributes pour in from friends and rivals alike

Tributes poured in from both sides of the political aisle for David Dinkins on Tuesday after the first Black mayor of New York died at 93 on Monday evening.

Mayor de Blasio led a chorus of appreciation for the courtly trailblazer who steered the city through turbulent times with a steady hand and a kind word for almost everyone.

“David Dinkins simply set this city on a better path,” Hizzoner wrote on Twitter. “He was my mentor, he was my friend, and his steadfast commitment to fight for that “gorgeous mosaic” inspires me every single day.”

Rudy Giuliani, who famously lost one mayoral election to Dinkins and ousted him in a rematch, called his onetime bitter rival a respected servant for all New Yorkers.

“He gave a great deal of his life in service to our great City,” Giuliani, now President Trump’s personal lawyer, wrote on Twitter. “That service is respected and honored by all.”

Dinkins, who served one four-year term in Gracie Mansion, was recalled as a statesman who inspired a city driven by racial conflict and crime to look to its better angels.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said all the mayors who followed Dinkins “stood on his shoulders and built on his legacy.”

“I will always remember a man, a Marine, a mayor and a friend who was deeply proud of his service to his city and country — and rightly so,” Bloomberg wrote on Twitter.

Rev. Al Sharpton fondly remembered Dinkins as the lawyer who helped him incorporate a community youth group when was just a teenager.

The civil rights leader admitted occasionally having harsh words for Dinkins during his early days as a firebrand activist. But Sharpton told reporters that he later came to understand the greater wisdom of his elder’s approach.

“He taught us (that) the objective was not to just confront people, but to get things done,” Sharpton said. “At the end of the day you have to make change, not just make noise.”

Gov. Cuomo, who also knew Dinkins as a young man when his father was serving in Albany, called the late mayor “a remarkable civic leader.”

“My friend, you will be missed,” Cuomo wrote.

Like others, N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James said Dinkins spurred her to seek a life of public service with his trademark depiction of New York as a polyglot “gorgeous mosaic.”

“The example Mayor David Dinkins set for all of us shines brighter than the most powerful lighthouse imaginable,” James said.

Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins in 2015. (Mary Altaffer/)

He was remembered from around the way and around the world as a man who treated everyone with respect.

Ordinary New Yorkers took to Twitter to swap memories of Dinkins greeting them at block parties or corner stores in his Washington Heights neighborhood.

Dinkins built on the legacy of other African-American trailblazers like Shirley Chisholm, who a generation earlier smashed the glass ceiling to become the first Black woman in Congress.

But it’s easy to forget how extraordinary Dinkins’ achievement was to Black New Yorkers in 1989, nearly two decades before Barack Obama would win the White House and 31 years before Kamala Harris would be elected vice president.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) penned an emotional missive to Dinkins on behalf of the community that he signed “Sincerely, Us.”

“Your eloquence and elegance as a leader will never be forgotten. May you forever rest in power,” wrote Jeffries, the No. 4 Democratic leader in the House of Representatives.

“New York has lost a great champion for people of color and an historic leader for a more inclusive city,” added Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

Charles Payne, a Wall Street executive, recalled bringing his daughter into the voting booth with him to pull the lever for the first Black mayor — and make a statement that New York was a city for all its people.

“I only hope America will come to see itself that way one day,” Payne wrote on Twitter.

A world away in South Africa, Dinkins was memorialized as the man who rolled out the red carpet for Nelson Mandela after he was freed from nearly three decades in prison.

The then-mayor was one of the first leaders to embrace the late freedom icon and Winnie Mandela in person when he invited them to address a packed Yankee Stadium rally.

“We admired him for … bringing his city to a standstill in honor of the visiting Mandelas after Madiba was released from jail,” wrote Makhosini Mgitywa, a Johannesburg railroad executive.