He sent a delegation to Salt Lake City and secured a private donation of $1 million, not only to build the Orson Hyde Memorial Park, but to help with other beautification projects around the city, Galbraith said.

In later years, when the church approached the city regarding land to build the BYU Center, "they were friendly. They knew we were real friends of Israel and Jerusalem." The center now sits on land that was secured with a 49-year lease, with an option to extend for another 49 years, he said.

Kollek was "a genuine friend, not a fair-weather friend." He visited Salt Lake City several times and developed strong friendships with several top LDS leaders, including then-Elders Howard W. Hunter and James E. Faust and Jeffrey R. Holland, who was president of BYU at the time. "They would even give each other bear hugs during their semiannual visits, and often they (church leaders) came more than twice a year (to Jerusalem). It was just unthinkable they would not drop in on Teddy."

In 1991, he was honored as a freedom builder by Provo City officials during their annual Freedom Festival, and in August 1995, BYU President Rex E. Lee bestowed on him an honorary doctorate "in recognition of his untiring and courageous service to his city, Jerusalem, to his country and to the world, and for his steadfast support of the university and the church's interests in Jerusalem."

In his biography, President Faust, now of the LDS Church's First Presidency, lauded Kollek as "one of the wisest, most durable politicians in the world," and Kollek lauded the Jerusalem Center as a possible "bridge to peace" and a symbol of Jerusalem as an open city.

Later this month, about three dozen BYU students will return to the Jerusalem Center for the first time since political unrest canceled the foreign study program.

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com