Gothamist saw funeral mourners starting to gather outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral today, to remember David Bloom. We were surprised that the police were setting up barricades, as David Bloom, while a popular journalist, was not the most famous. But, as parts of his funeral was covered on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News, it's clear that he symbolizes something bigger than just journalism: a passion for his work, rapport with the audience, the public's desire to connect with an event...
Governor George Pataki, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, current Mayor Bloomberg and former mayor Giuliani, ABC's Peter Jennings, CBS's Ed Bradley and many NBC staffers, including Tom Brokaw, who spoke, attended. According to AP, "Bloom was described as a man who had battled personal problems in recent years and was at peace with the prospect of dying in Iraq."
Updated: The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz includes excerpts of Bloom's last e-mail to his wife, Melanie; the e-mail was read during the service.
"Here I am, supposedly at the peak of professional success, and I could frankly care less," Bloom wrote April 4, hours before his death from a pulmonary embolism. "Yes, I'm proud of the good job we've all been doing, but in the scheme of things it matters little compared to my relationship with you, the girls and Jesus."
He told his wife, Melanie, to save the note, and if in the future "you're talking about my last days," she and their three daughters should know that "he gave every ounce of his being not for himself but for those who he cared about most, God and his family. . . . You cannot know now whether you will look back on it with tears, heartbreak and a sense of anguish and regret over what might have been."
MSNBC on the service for Bloom
