Results tagged “vincentastor”

Brooke Astor's funeral service will be held tomorrow afternoon at Saint Thomas Church in Manhattan, but legal papers have already been filed contesting the doyenne of NYC philanthropy's will. Family and friends have been arguing about the legitimacy of Mrs. Astor's final will and testament for a while now, after major adjustments were made to the document in 2002 - a time when Astor was allegedly suffering from reduced competency - as well in the following years.

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.

Mrs. Astor's will includes directions about who gets certain personal possessions (e.g., friend David Rockefeller gets the stone Buddha head statue in the library of her apartment, another friend Annette de la Renta gets the four dog paintings from the staircase at Astor's Westchester mansion.) Most of Mrs. Astor's wealth is being given to NYC institutions she has supported throughout her life, like the Metropolitan Museum and the New York Public Library. A large sum is also being tranferred to her son, Anthony Marshall.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Hillside Ave. in Queens, commercial robbery on 16th St. in Brooklyn, and a bomb threat on 70th St. and 2nd Ave. in Manhattan.
• We hope some Brooklynites' leases are ironclad, because getting tatooed with an image of your building is the new fashion.
• Mayor Bloomberg conjures the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party by suggesting the likeliehood of a third party candidacy for President.
• Students are sick after partaking in free samples of a milk-beverage product.
• Toll Brothers wants the Jehovah's Witnesses' Brooklyn waterfront property and we can only pray that the buildings will have ludicrous Splendido-ish names
• 7 line trains are set to run on a near-constant basis while the Yankees visit Shea Stadium..
• The federal government is paying a large sum of money every month to house homeless people and criminals in a building once owned by Vincent Astor on 45th St.
• Wild accusations and recriminations are flying not in the pages of the New York Post, but about it, and The New York Times observes; plus, many more pages of fun at The Smoking Gun
• Brooklyn is now officially the new suburbs as dangerous art is removed from a show in an effort to be "careful" and not offend sponsors.

Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, finally spoke out about his family drama. Last week, Marshall's own son, Philip, had charged that his father was mismanaging and neglectful of the 104 year old grand dame's care, asking that new guardians be appointed. Astor was moved into Lenox Hill Hospital for observation, and Anthony Marshall told reporters that he does care about her and has been a thoughtful guardian. (His son's affidavit claims his father skimped on medication and buying Astor clothing - and making her sit in a couch smelling of dog urine). Anthony Marshall's wife Charlene said, "Not everyone has a Park Avenue apartment. Not everyone has eight servants." Hmm, that is a good point, though it's Brooke Astor's money, so she can spend it however she wants. At any rate, Marshall added, “I was very touched and encouraged by the fact that my mother’s present state of age has brought attention to the need for care of elderly people. My mother always liked to spearhead a problem, whether it was within the New York community or throughout the nation. I’m happy she can still do what she did for years for the foundation, even if she doesn’t know it.”