"When Marni Jaffer was about to deliver her husband's eulogy to a crowd of 300-plus mourners, she noticed a familiar face rising above the others in the back of the funeral chapel. She had never met the man, but she recognized him from her television screen.

It was David Lee, formerly of the Knicks.

"I thought it was wonderful that he came," Jaffer said. "And it also struck me how he stayed in the back, paying his respects quietly, not wanting to have people say, 'Oh, it's David Lee,' and intrude on my husband's moment.""