Mr. Safir, who had a home in Annapolis, underwent double bypass heart surgery and was treated for prostate cancer while he was commissioner. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani put Mr. Safir in charge of the Police Department in 1996. The two men had known each other since the early 1980s, when Mr. Safir was a top figure in the United States Marshals Service and Mr. Giuliani was a senior Justice Department official. Two years earlier, upon becoming mayor, Mr. Giuliani had made his old colleague the fire commissioner. But in April 1996 Mr. Giuliani needed a new police commissioner to replace William J. Bratton, who had resigned after falling out of favor with City Hall, and it was clear that Mr. Safir’s primary assignment was to be his predecessor’s temperamental opposite.

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Persons: Howard Safir, Adam, Safir, Rudolph W, Giuliani, Mr, William J, Bratton Organizations: Police Department, United States Marshals Service, Department, City Hall Locations: York, Annapolis, Md