Brooke Astor daughter-in-law of John Jacob Astor Dies

Following on from our story of Brooke Astor the New York Socialite dies at the age of 105, we would like to talk more about the lady herself. Brooke Astor was the wife of Vincent Astor; he was the son of John Jacob Astor IV many of you would know that he died in the Titanic tragedy. The history of the Astor family go back as far as New York itself, hints of this can be seen when you take a trip to subway station at Astor Place in Manhattan. Once there you will see that it has been decorated with beavers, the pelt of this animal was the foundation of what made the Astor family their fortune, after which they went into buying real estate in Ney York.

Vincent Astor was in fact the third husband to Brooke Astor, she had a grandson who was descended from John Kuser, her first husband, and he was then named after Charles Marshall, her second husband. Just recently John had recently alleged that his grandmother was being neglected by Anthony Marshall, his father. All this took a toll on Brooke Astor, and the great lady succumbed to dementia, the family has since been locked in legal wrangling over her will, this sadly set an ugly tone to the last few years of her life.

Brooke Astor, will be remembered for the amount of money that she gave away to many institutions in New York in her lifetime, this donations added up to more than $200 million. Brooke’s will states that the bulk of her estate will go to the many organizations that she supported; these include The New York Public Library, and also the Metropolitan Museum.

Brooke Astor would like written on her gravestone “I had a wonderful life.”

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