Ted Koppel: “I’ll Mourn My Son For The Rest Of My Life”

Legendary ABC newsman Ted Koppel and his wife Grace Anne are brokenhearted over the death of their only son, Andrew, who died early Monday after a weekend-long drinking binge in Manhattan.

“Our son, Andrew, was a brilliant, caring man, whose loss we will mourn for the rest of our lives,” The Koppels remarked in a somber statement issued Tuesday.

Andrew Koppel, a 40-year-old former attorney with the New York City Housing Authority with a history of alcohol addiction, was declared dead in a Washington Heights apartment at approximately 1:30 AM. Police said Koppel — who lived in nearby Queens with his girlfriend and their two-year-old daughter — had been drinking heavily for hours with a waiter he met on Sunday afternoon. Russell Wimberly, 32, said they met at Smith’s Bar on 44th St. and Ninth Ave., striking up a conversation after each noticed the other wearing a similar straw hat.

Funeral arrangements are set for this week.