Norman Mailer’s family and friends gathered Wednesday at a Carnegie Hall memorial service to remember the adventurous, ironical, funny and witty man who died in November 2007.

Among the friends who attended the ceremony were journalist Tina Brown, writer Lawrence Schiller, actor Sean Penn and Lonnie Ali, wife of Muhammad Ali, who used to be a good friend of Mailer's.

The very complex man, who, during his life, was involved in cultural activities of many kinds, being a successful and appreciated journalist, essayist, poet, screenwriter and film director, was mainly remembered Wednesday as a family man.

Mailer’s whole family was present, including all his nine children, who each had their turn on the microphone.

The thousands of fans and well-wishers had the occasion to discover private and touching details about Mailer’s life as a father.

Mailer’s daughter, Kate Mailer, evoked the challenging summer projects that her father encouraged her and her siblings to fulfill, such as climbing a mountain soon after a rainstorm had taken place. Showing to her father a sign that informed climbers the conditions were not safe, she received the following answer from Mailer: “Don't believe everything that you read.” He later added: “We should all be so lucky to die on a mountaintop.” Isn’t this the humorous father that any kid would want to have?

All the sons and daughters of the late writer said people kept asking them all the time how their life was with an interesting father like Norman.

The ceremony continued in a warm and intimate manner, with people who had had contact with Mailer during the writer’s life telling amusing stories about their encounters with him.

Norman Mailer died of acute renal failure at the age of 84, having published more than 30 books and having won two Pulitzer prizes and the National Book Award. He was considered, along with Truman Capote and Tom Wolfe, an innovator of creative nonfiction.