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Flashback: Last Brownstone Standing
Brooke Astor passed away today. A gentleman should never ask a lady her age, but once Brooke Astor passed the century mark, she probably didn't care who knew how old she was. Brooke Astor was the wife of Vincent Astor, the only son of John Jacob Astor IV, who died in the sinking of the Titanic. The Astor family's roots stretch back almost as far as the history of New York City itself. The subway station at Astor Place in Manhattan is decorated with beavers, the animal whose pelt was the foundation of the family fortune before John Jacob Astor began buying large swathes of New York real estate.
Vincent Astor was Brooke Astor's third husband, following two short-lived marriages. Her grandson, descended from first husband John Kuser, but named after second husband Charles Marshall, recently alleged that his grandmother was being neglected by his father, Anthony Marshall, as she succumbed to dementia. Legal wranglings over codicils to her will set an ugly tone to the last years of a woman who devoted herself to philanthropy and New York City.
Brooke Astor donated more than $200 million to New York institutions during her lifetime, and her will directs that the bulk of her estate upon death will be shared with organizations like the Metropolitan Museum and The New York Public Library. When The New York Times got ahold of a copy of her will earlier this year, it disclosed several personal details. One was that she wished that the epitaph on her gravestone to simply read "I had a wonderful life."
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My deepest condolences go out to her family. So very many New Yorkers have been beneficiaries of her generosity. What a shame that one such as she, with such a length and breadth of experience rivaled by so few, passed on without penning a history of some sort.
Nice. I'd hit it.
#1, enough with the pity party for a woman that married the son of a robber baron. I don't have ill feelings for Brooke Astor but let's keep some perspective. What did she ever accomplish besides marrying well on the third try and living to be 100+?
#1, if you read the obit in the Times, you'd see that she wrote several memoirs during her lifetime.
Pity party? how about respect for her heartfelt, dedicated philanthropy. Guest #3, get a clue, Let me know when your "accomplishments" include running a foundation that gives away $200 million. Anonymously flaming a dead old lady is embarrassing, and totally off base in this case.
Rest in Peace Brooke.
Not to snark, but a couple corrections: Vincent had a half brother who survived the Titanic sinking in utero, so Vincent was NOT JJA IV's only son. And the marriage to Charles Marshall lasted for 20 years until his death--not so short-lived. By all accounts they were happy and would have stayed together forever.
I'd hit that too, maybe not when she was 105 - perhaps @ a perkier 85 or 90...?
Yes she donated $200mil of her coin...but when there's plenty more from where that came, I would expect any decent person in this world to do the same. So good for her. I respect wealthy folk like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates and Brooke Astor that can give it away. Let's see Bloomy do the same.
she was a nice lady with a lot of money. She could have given away more, but she gave away a lot. I think it would have been more impressed to see her give away enough to actually feel it, but I'm sure someone could say the same thing about me, and I'd be hard pressed to honestly explain why don't give more (as I'm sure we all would be).
Don't canonize her, but no need to knock her either.