NEW YORK (AP) – New York Giants co-owner Robert Tisch was posthumously honored Tuesday with the Bronze Medallion, the city’s highest civic award.

Tisch, who held several civic posts, died last month of brain cancer at age 79.

His wife, Joan Tisch, accepted the award from Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a reception at Gracie Mansion celebrating the family’s Take the Field charity, which raises money to renovate and rebuild public school athletic facilities in New York.

The couple’s son Steve Tisch said the award, which last was presented in 1980, was a “great honor.”

“I was extremely proud of the award and how it acknowledged the work my father did on the Take the Field project and how tirelessly he raised funds for five years to guarantee that 150,000 students in New York would have fields to play on,” he said.

Robert Tisch was the chairman of the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau for 19 years and was chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Democratic national conventions held in New York in 1976 and 1980.

He was the city’s ambassador to Washington between 1980 and 1993. He also was chairman of the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 1990 to 1993.

Tisch was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in 2004. He died Nov. 15, three weeks after the Giants’ other co-owner, Wellington Mara, also died of cancer.

Take the Field, created by Tisch, Tony Kiser and Richard Kahan, has rebuilt dozens of athletic fields.

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On the Net:

Take the Field: http://www.takethefield.org/