Monday, January 27, 2014

IN MEMORIAM BROOKE ASTOR -- BROOKE ASTOR and the history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York -- Trustee.

Speranza

   
Brooke Astor
13astor cityroom cropped.jpg
Brooke Astor in 2002 in her duplex
BornRoberta Brooke Russell
(1902-03-30)March 30, 1902
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
DiedAugust 13, 2007(2007-08-13)
Briarcliff Manor, New York
Occupationphilanthropist
Spouse(s)John Dryden Kuser
(m. 1919–1930; divorced)
Charles Henry Marshall
(m. 1932–1952; his death)
William Vincent Astor
(m. 1953–1959; his death)
ChildrenAnthony Dryden Marshall
ParentsJohn Henry Russell, Jr.
Mabel Cecile Hornby Howard
RelativesJohn Henry Russell, Sr. (grandfather)
 
Roberta Brooke Russell, also known as Mrs. Vincent Astor (March 30, 1902 – August 13, 2007) was a philanthropist and socialite, who was the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, which had been established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, son of John Jacob Astor IV and great-great grandson of America's first multi-millionaire, John Jacob Astor.
 

 

 
Brooke was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the only child of John Henry Russell, Jr. (1872–1947), the 16th Commandant of the Marine Corps, and his wife, Mabel Cecile Hornby Howard (1879–1967).
 
Her paternal grandfather John Henry Russell, Sr. was a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy.
 
She was named for her maternal grandmother (Roberta) and was known as Bobby to close friends and family.
 
Due to her father's career, she spent much of her childhood living in China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and other places.
 
Also, she briefly attended The Madeira School in 1919 but graduated from the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland.

 

She married her first husband, John Dryden Kuser (1897–1964), shortly after her seventeenth birthday, on April 26, 1919, in Washington, D.C. "I certainly wouldn't advise getting married that young to anyone," she said later in life. "At the age of sixteen, you're not jelled yet. The first thing you look at, you fall in love with."[1]
John was the son of the financier and conservationist Anthony Rudolph Kuser and Susie Fairfield Drydan. Susie's father was U.S. Senator John Fairfield Dryden, later became a New Jersey Republican councilman, assemblyman, and state senator.[2] They also lived in Bernardsville, New Jersey.[3]
Brooke described her tumultuous first marriage as the "Worst years of my life",[1] which was punctuated by her husband's alleged physical abuse, alcoholism, and adultery. According to Frances Kiernan's 2007 biography of Brooke Astor, when Brooke was six months pregnant with the couple's only child, her husband broke her jaw during a marital fight.[4] "I learned about terrible manners from the family of my first husband," she told The New York Times. '"They didn't know how to treat people."[1] A year after the marriage, according to a published account of the divorce proceedings, John "began to embarrass her in social activities" and "told her that he no longer loved her and that their marriage was a failure."[5]
Brooke and John had one son, Anthony Dryden "Tony" Kuser, on May 30, 1924. She filed for divorce on February 15, 1930, in Reno, Nevada. It was finalized later that year.[5][6]

 

Her second husband, whom she married in 1932, was Charles Henry "Buddy" Marshall (1891–1952). Buddy was the senior partner of the investment firm Butler, Herrick & Marshall, a brother-in-law of the mercantile heir Marshall Field III, and a descendant of James Lenox, the founder of the Lenox Library.
Astor later wrote that the marriage was "a great love match."[1]
She had two stepchildren by the marriage, Peter Marshall and Helen Huntington Marshall.[7]
In 1942, her then-18-year-old son Tony changed his name to Anthony Dryden Marshall out of admiration for his stepfather. Buddy's financial fortunes turned in the mid-1940s, at which time Brooke went to work for eight years as a features editor at House & Garden magazine. She also briefly worked for Ruby Ross Wood, a prominent New York interior decorator who, with her associate Billy Baldwin, decorated the Marshalls' apartment at 1 Gracie Square in New York City.[8]

 

In 1953, eleven months after Charles Marshall's death, she married her third and final husband, William Vincent Astor (1891–1959), the chairman of the board of Newsweek magazine and the last notably rich American member of the famous Astor family. Vincent was the son of RMS Titanic victim John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV (1864–1912) and socialite Ava Lowle Willing (1868–1958), he had been married and divorced twice before childless and was known to have a difficult personality.
"He had a dreadful childhood, and as a result, had moments of deep melancholy," Brooke recalled. "But I think I made him happy. That's what I set out to do. I'd literally dance with the dogs, sing and play the piano, and I would make him laugh, something no one had ever done before. Because of his money, Vincent was very suspicious of people. That's what I tried to cure him of."[1]
Not wanting to die alone, Astor agreed to divorce his second wife, Mary Benedict "Minnie" Cushing, only after she had found him a replacement spouse. Minnie had first suggested Janet Newbold Rhinelander-Stewart, the newly divorced wife of James Smith Bush II, who turned down Astor's proposal with startling candor stating "I don't even like you". Minnie then suggested the recently widowed Brooke.[9] Few people believed that the Astor-Marshall union was anything more than a financial transaction. According to Brooke's friend Louis Auchincloss; "Of course she married Vincent for the money," adding, "I wouldn't respect her if she hadn't. Only a twisted person would have married him for love."[4]
 
During her brief marriage to Vincent, whom she called "Captain", Brooke participated in his real-estate and hotel empire and his philanthropic endeavors.
 
Between 1954 and 1958, she redecorated one of his properties, the Hotel St. Regis, which had been built by his father. Vincent died leaving all his money to Brooke.
 
His younger half-brother socialite John Jacob "Jakey" Astor VI (1912–1992) was left with nothing since Vincent's hatred for Jakey's mother Madeleine (Jack's second wife and widow) led him to believe he was not even a biological Astor.
 
Vincent had nothing but contempt for him.[10]
 
Jakey felt cheated and resentfully stated Vincent "had the legal, not the moral right to keep all the money".[11] He was certain that Vincent was "mentally incompetent" when signing his last will in June 1958 due to frequent smoking and alcoholism, though Brooke insisted otherwise. While Vincent was hospitalized, Brooke would often bring him liquor. Jakey accused her of using the liquor to influence the will in her favor. Jakey ended up settling for $250,000. The rest of money remained with the Vincent Astor foundation and Brooke. Before Vincent's death, Brooke once privately admitted to her daughter-in-law Elizabeth Cynthia "Liz" Cryan: "I don't think I can stand being married to him anymore. I don't think I can take it. He never wants to go anywhere — he's so antisocial."[12]
Though she received several proposals after Astor's death, she chose not to remarry. In a 1980 interview, she stated: "I'd have to marry a man of a suitable age and somebody who was a somebody, and that's not easy. Frankly, I think I'm unmarriageable now", and also said "I'm too used to having things my way. But I still enjoy a flirt now and then."[1]

 

Though she was appointed a member of the board of the Astor Foundation soon after her marriage, upon Vincent Astor's death in 1959, she took charge of all the philanthropies to which he left his fortune.
 
Brooke
She served as a Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and chaired the Visiting Committee of the Metropolitan's Department of Far Eastern Art.
 
She is credited with the idea for a Chinese garden courtyard, the Astor Court, in the Metropolitan.[
 
 Despite liquidating the Vincent Astor Foundation in 1997, she continued to be active in charities and in New York's social life.
 
The New York Public Library was always one of Astor's favorite charities, as was The Animal Medical Center. In 1988, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
 
She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992.[14] As a result of her charity work, Astor was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998.
 
Her life's motto summed up her prodigious generosity:
 
“Money is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around.”
 
 
Among numerous other organizations, she was involved with Lighthouse for the Blind, the Maternity Center Association, the Astor Home for emotionally disturbed children, the International Rescue Committee, the Fresh Air Fund, and the Women's Auxiliary Board of the Society of New York Hospital.

 

Like much of Astor family, she was a steadfast Republican.
 
When Ronald Reagan ran for president, she was one of his strongest supporters, donating thousands of dollars to his campaign.
 
She was also a strong supporter of the Bush campaigns and was invited to the White House on numerous occasions.

 

 
On July 26, 2006, the New York Daily News ran a front-page cover story on the family feud between her son Tony and his son Philip Cryan Marshall, regarding Brooke's welfare
 
The story detailed how her grandson, a historic preservationist and associate professor at Roger Williams University, had filed a law-suit seeking the removal of his father as the socialite's guardian and the appointment of Annette de la Renta, the wife of designer Oscar de la Renta, instead.
 
According to accounts published in The New York Times and the New York Daily News, Astor was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and suffered from anemia, among other ailments.
 
The law-suit alleged that Marshall had not provided for his elderly mother and, instead, had allowed her to live in squalor and that he had cut back on necessary medication and doctor's visits, while enriching himself with income from her estate.
 
Philip Marshall further charged that his father sold his grandmother's favorite Childe Hassam painting in 2002 without her knowledge and with no record as to the whereabouts of the funds received from the sale.
 
In addition to Annette de la Renta, Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller provided affidavits supporting Philip Marshall's requests for a change in guardianship.
 
The day the story appeared, New York Supreme Court Justice John Stackhouse sealed the documents pertaining to the lawsuit and granted an order appointing Annette de la Renta guardian and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to be in charge of Brooke's finances.
 
Several news organizations including Associated Press and The New York Times sued to have the records of the Astor case unsealed in the public interest, and they were, on September 1, 2006.[17]
 
Astor was moved to Lenox Hill Hospital, where an unidentified nurse called her appearance "deplorable," according to the New York Daily News.
 
Her son Tony unsuccessfully attempted to have his mother transferred to another hospital.
 
Brooke was released from Lenox Hill Hospital on July 29, 2006 and moved to Holly Hill, her 75-acre (300,000 m2) estate in the village of Briarcliff Manor, New York, where she died on August 13, 2007.
 
In 2008, a book, entitled Mrs. Astor Regrets, by Meryl Gordon, makes use of diaries kept by the nurses who cared for Astor during the last years of her life.
 
The diaries were compiled over the four years Astor received care, and detail the abuse that Mrs. Astor reportedly received from her son, Anthony.
 

 

On August 1, 2006, The New York Times reported that Anthony Marshall was accused by Alice Perdue, who was employed in his mother's business office, of diverting nearly $1 million from his ailing mother's personal checking accounts into theatrical productions.
 
Marshall, through a spokesman, said that his mother knew of the investments and approved of them. Perdue countered that Marshall had advised her never to send to his mother any documents of a financial nature because "she didn't understand it."
 
The claims made by Philip Marshall regarding his father's handling of the estate prompted interest into the matter. On November 27, 2007, indictments on criminal charges were announced against Tony and attorney Francis X. Morrissey Jr. The charges stemmed from the district attorney's office and subsequent grand jury investigation into the mishandling of Astor's money and a questionable signature on the third amendment to her 2002 will, made in March 2004.[19] That amendment called for Astor’s real estate to be sold and the proceeds added to her residuary estate. An earlier amendment, also made in 2004, which designated Marshall as the executor of his mother's estate and left him the entirety of the residuary estate, was also under investigation.[19]
 
The specific charges included grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, forgery, scheming to defraud, falsifying business records, offering a false instrument for filing, and conspiracy[20] in plundering her $198 million estate.
 
The most severe charge, grand larceny, carries up to a 25-year sentence.[20]
 
The trial of Marshall and Morrissey started March 30, 2009, with the jury selection. The judge, Justice A. Kirke Bartley Jr., had originally indicated that the trial could last up to three months.[21] After deliberations that stretched over twelve days and were reportedly marked by bitter disagreements that left one female juror claiming to feel personally threatened, on October 8, 2009, the jury convicted Anthony D. Marshall of one of two charges of grand larceny, the most serious of a number of charges brought against him. The same jury convicted Francis X. Morrissey Jr. of forgery.[22]
 
In December 2009, Marshall and Morrisey were both sentenced to 1–3 years in prison.[23]
 
Philip C. Marshall, Astor's grandson, said that now that his father has been convicted in the Brooke Astor will case, he expects the will to be contested by various charities.[24]
 
 
On November 30, 2011, Sotheby's announced plans for an April 19, 2012 auction of jewelry as well as fine and decorative arts from her Park Avenue apartment and Holly Hill, her Westchester estate.
 

 

The grave of Brooke Astor in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
 
 
Brooke died on August 13, 2007 at the age of 105 from pneumonia at her home in Briarcliff Manor, New York.[15]
 
One of Astor's death notices in the Times, a paid notice from The Rockefeller University, ended with these lines:
"And if you should survive to 105,
Look at all you'll derive out of being alive.
Then here is the best part,
You'll have a head start,
If you are among the very young at heart."

 

Among the organizations who lamented her death included the New York Public Library, New York University, the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers, the New York Botanical Garden, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, WNET-TV, Historic Hudson Valley, The Juilliard School, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, the Morris-Juemel Mansion Museum, the Citizens' Committee for New York City, the Rockefeller University, the Animal Medical Center, the Merchant's House Museum, the Library of America, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the Lotos Club, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House and the Brooklyn Stained Glass Conservation Center.
She is interred in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York. The epitaph on her gravestone, chosen by her, reads: "I had a wonderful life".[28]

Bibliography

Astor, Brooke (1962). Patchwork Child: Early Memories. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-42687-6. 

Astor, Brooke (1965). The Bluebird is at Home. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-42687-6. 

Astor, Brooke (1980). Footprints. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-14377-X. 

Astor, Brooke (1986). The Last Blossom on the Plum Tree: A Period Piece. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-90545-9. 

In fiction[edit]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Brooke Astor
Brooke Astor is portrayed as the heroine, Jane Merle, of the romantic comedy Night and Silence: Who is Here? by British novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson.[29]

See also[edit]

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References[edit]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Klemesrud, Judy (June 15, 1980). "Brooke Astor: The Private Moments of a Public Benefactor; Married at 16.". The New York Times. 
  2. Jump up ^ In 1927, Astor and Dryden Kuser lived in a New York City townhouse which they rented from Madeleine Talmadge Force, the stepmother of Brooke's eventual third husband.
  3. Jump up ^ Miller, Judith. "Old Money, New Needs", The New York Times, November 17, 1991. Retrieved March 21, 2011. "Eventually Kuser fell in love with another woman and left his wife. She moved from Bernardsville, N.J., to New York and took up a career writing features and book reviews, and eventually became an editor at House & Garden."
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Schillinger, Liesl (June 17, 2007). "Astor's Place". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-21. 
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Mrs. Kuser Files Suit; Gets Custody of Son. Wife of New Jersey Senator in Reno Court Relinquishes Her Dower Rights.". The New York Times. February 16, 1930. 
  6. Jump up ^ On September 6, 1930, in Virginia City, Nevada, John married, as his second wife, Vieva Marie Fisher Banks (formerly Mrs. James Lenox Banks, Jr.). They had one daughter, Suzanne Dryden Kuser, and divorced in October 1935. A week later, Sen. Kuser married Louise Mattei Farry (formerly Mrs. Joseph Farry). In 1958, he married, as his fourth wife, Grace Egglesfield Gibbons (widow of John J. Gibbons). An amateur ornithologist and president of the New Jersey Audubon Society, Sen. Kuser introduced the bill that made the Eastern Goldfinch the state bird of New Jersey. He also was, at various times, an insurance and real estate broker in New Jersey (1937–1942) and Nevada (1942–1955), a vice president of Lenox, Inc., the pottery and china company, a columnist for the Nevada State Journal (1943–1947), and a director of the Fox Film Corporation.
  7. Jump up ^ Helen Marshall married firstly the composer Ernest Schelling (Gray, Christopher (July 12, 1998). "Streetscapes: 863 Park Avenue; One of the Oldest Luxury Apartment Houses on Park". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-28. ) and, secondly, the cellist János Scholz (Pace, Eric (June 6, 1993). "Janos Scholz, 89, Cellist, Scholar And Morgan Library Benefactor". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-23. ).
  8. Jump up ^ Astor's association with House & Garden has been established by a contemporary issue of the magazine, which shows "Mrs. Charles H. Marshall of Ruby Ross Wood, Inc." in the design firm's office. The gossip columnist Cindy Adams stated on July 28, 2006 that Astor was fired from her position at House & Garden and also worked briefly as a secretary to the American decorator Dorothy Draper.
  9. Jump up ^ http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com. Janet Newbold married (1) Allan A. Ryan Jr, (2) William Rhinelander Stewart, and (3) James Smith Bush II. Her third husband, to whom she was married from 1948 until 1952, was a brother of Senator Prescott Sheldon Bush, an uncle of U.S. president George Herbert Walker Bush, and a great-uncle of U.S. president George Walker Bush.
  10. Jump up ^ "Part II: Vincent, the Astor Who Gave Away the Money". NewYorkSocialDaily. Retrieved 6 August 2013. 
  11. Jump up ^ Wilson, Andrew (2012). Shadow of the Titanic: The Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived. Simon and Schuster. 
  12. Jump up ^ Gordon, Meryl (2008). Mrs. Astor Regrets: The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 
  13. Jump up ^ One Hundred Eleventh Annual Report of the Trustees, The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Fiscal Year July 1, 1980, Through June 30, 1981 October 19, 1981.
  14. Jump up ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved April 27, 2011. 
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Berger, Marilyn (August 13, 2007). "Brooke Astor, New York’s First Lady of Philanthropy, Dies at 105.". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-13. "Brooke Astor.....died yesterday afternoon at her weekend estate, Holly Hill, in Briarcliff Manor, New York. She was 105." 
  16. Jump up ^ "New York Day by Day. 2 Honors for Brooke Astor.". The New York Times. May 2, 1985. p. B3. "It was a big day for Brooke Astor yesterday. At lunch, she received the Frederick Law Olmsted Award for being wonderful to Central Park. At cocktails, she received the Governor's Arts Award for being wonderful to New York. The Olmsted Award, named after one of the architects of Central Park, is the annual excuse for about 700 New York movers, shakers and climbers to mingle in the park, which benefits from the lunch." 
  17. Jump up ^ "Astor Painting Becomes Focus of Courtroom Battle" New York Times, Sep 1, 2006
  18. Jump up ^ The Daily Beast "The Baby Monitor Diaries." Mason, Christopher. Nov. 17,2008.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b Kovaleski, Serge F. Son of Astor Is Said to Face Criminal Case. The New York Times. November 27, 2007. Access date: November 27, 2007.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b Brooke Astor's son accused of plundering estate. MSNBC.com. November 27, 2007.
  21. Jump up ^ John Eligon (March 30, 2009). "Jury Selection Begins in Fraud Trial of Brooke Astor’s Son". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-20. 
  22. Jump up ^ John Eligon (October 8, 2009). "Brooke Astor’s Son Guilty in Scheme to Defraud Her". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-08. 
  23. Jump up ^ James Barron (December 21, 2009). "Brooke Astor's Son Is Sentenced to Prison". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  24. Jump up ^ Thomas J. Morgan (October 14, 2009). "Philanthropist Astor’s will headed for court challenge, grandson says". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 2009-10-14. 
  25. Jump up ^ "A Brooke Astor Auction Planned by Sotheby's", Vogel, Carol NY Times. December 1, 2011
  26. Jump up ^ "ASTOR—Brooke". The New York Times. August 16, 2007. p. C15. Retrieved 2007-08-28. 
  27. Jump up ^ From the pop standard Young at Heart, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh
  28. Jump up ^ Young, Peter (August 13, 2007). "Brooke Astor, New York Society Doyenne, Benefactor, Dies at 105.". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2007-08-28. 
  29. Jump up ^ "Remembering Brooke Astor". The New York Times. August 13, 2007. 

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Brooke Astor
 
      
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