Brooke Astor Buried Secretly By Son

Anthony Marshall and his wife Charlene buried his mother, Brooke Astor, with an Episcopal priest as the only other person in attendance. A day after a very public funeral service in Manhattan, that had an audio webcast online and several news outlets liveblogging the event, Marshall buried Astor at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetary yesterday. Other family members were not told of the burial arrangements.

Anthony Marshall is involved in a bitter dispute with his own son over the handling of Mrs. Astor's estate. Phillip Marshall eventually accused his father of elder abuse and essentially stealing millions of dollars from the estate of his grandmother. Interested parties and beneficiaries of Astor's will have already initiated legal proceedings to dispute recent changes to the document that financially benefitted Anthony Marshall.

Phillip's brother Alec arrived at the cemetary with his fianceé about an hour after the burial and was shocked. The New York Post quotes him as saying "We just stopped by to pay our last respects. I didn't even know [the burial] was today." One person who did appear to know about the secret burial service was the photographer who snapped a photo used by the Post of Anthony and Charlene Marshall and the priest standing next to the casket.

On a nicer note, The New York Times has an appreciation of Mrs. Astor's lighter side with a wonderful triptych of photos of her as a 92-year-old being spun across the dance floor at The Plaza.