Dying For A Drink

Ted Koppel’s son dies in bizarre drinking binge

Posted on June 1st, 2010
by Austin
[HMG] – Legendary ABC newsman, Ted Koppel is now in mourning after his only son, Andrew, died early Monday from a bizarre drinking binge in midtown Manhattan. He was just 40-years old.

Andrew, who worked as an Attorney for the city’s housing authority was pronounced dead at around 1.30am Monday in a rundown apartment at 180th Street in Washington Heights, owned by a man he’d met in a bar the same day.

32-year old Russell Wimberly met Andrew at around noon at Smith’s Bar & Restaurant on 44th Street. The two began drinking straight whiskey and just didn’t stop…… “There was a lot of alcohol,” Wimberly explains. “He didn’t take any drugs, and neither of us ate all day. We talked about our kids. He said he had a kid and loved her a lot.”

http://www.hotmommagossip.com/2010/06/01/ted-koppels-son-dies-in-bizarre-drinking-binge/#comment-309944


I am so sorry for Mr Koppel. It is so sad to think of parents burying their children at any age. Even more heartbreaking is the thought of the loved daughter left behind; that Andrew expressed his deep love, not to her, but to a drunken stranger.

What can we do that might make this a cautionary tale to warn others? Really, there isn’t a thing. Some people are alcoholics. Before they have ever had their first drink they are alcoholics. Once an alcoholic has had that first drink, it is only a matter of time before the trouble begins, and so many don't make it out alive.

If you've made it this far without a drink, the only way you can be safe is not to touch it. It really makes no one's life better. It makes it easier to "relax" and lose inhibitions, but the price can truly be your life. There are other ways to relax, and lose your inhibitions for good, not just for a night.

The problem is, once you have opened Pandora's Box, it is pretty tough to close it up, even if you're not an alcoholic. Just try to change that pickle back into a cucumber.