Brooke (Mrs. Vincent) Astor: Let's Discuss and Consider In Our Usual Thoughtful DL Manner, People

from Wikipedia:

[quote]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. 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.[14] In addition, Astor served as a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 100th Anniversary Committee and hosted the Metropolitan's Centennial Ball.[15] 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.[16] 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." [17][18]

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.

True Blue Bloods who were born into that world thought of her as a flashy social climber. She was ridiculed behind her back because of her ostentation, wearing jewels in Maine to clambakes and day boating. Nobody wanted Vincent Astor even with all his money. His first choice of a wife after Minnie Astor left him, Serena Rhinelander Stewart turned him down in spite of his claim that his Doctors gave him less than 5 years to live. She famously replied" But what if they're wrong?"

But she came into her own in the 70's and by the 80's was considered the doyenne. Also she was fun and sharp as a tack. She staggered me more than once with her dramatic flair. When she arrived at NYPL parties and let her fur fall to the marble floor. The corridors there are almost 2 blocks long, of austere white marble. She would drag a fur all the way long those corridors.

Was just reading a vanity fair story about brook last night.

But her sad later years teach us that no matter how much money you may have, in the end you're alone and desolate.

The elder abuse was criminal. It wasn't the normal experience of a very old person. Anthony D. Marshall was a no good crook. Brooke had VERY late onset of Alzheimer's, all things considered. She was beloved by friends and colleagues and that never needed to happen but for pure greed and cruelty.

She was a great philanthropist, but also a "hands-on" one. She personally inspected the various projects her charities funded. I remember reading that, at some event in Harlem, where they served hot dogs, she expressed her delight being served one. And she always dressed up. She said that when she was the guest at a charity function, they expected to see "Mrs Astor". Just like Queen Elizabeth has reportedly said, "I have to be seen to be believed".

And now we have Reality House Wives to put up with as they are paraded and talked about by the likes of Wendy Williams and the late Joan Rivers... their whore like dressing and attitudes with hair weaves and thug boyfriend and husbands always amaze me....talk about decline! I'm glad I'm gay..am I the only one who feels this way about today's celebrated women?

I met her, R7, at one of her inspections in Harlem. I don't know if it was the hotdog one or not. You are right, very human, made everyone feel comfortable. I said to a friend, "Well, I've met Brooke Astor." To which that queen replied, "Oh darling, everyone in New York has."

Love it, R7.

I heard a similar story: one of her foundation members told the aging Mrs. Astor: "It's only a daycare center in the South Bronx. You don't need your hat and your pearls and your couture suit and the limo when we could just mail the check." (I'm paraphrasing.)

Brooke said: "Oh yes I do."

How much money did she give away?

She was no Marjorie Merriweather Post.

She wasn't a billionaire. When she died she only had something like $200 million dollars. I thought she would've been much wealthier than that. Especially with all of her properties she owned.

R8 Don't forget Paris Hilton and the Kardashians along with the rest of the rift raft. Especially now since iss Anne Slater is gone.

In relative terms, she was a Billionaire. She inherited around $250,000,000 in the 1950's which is easily $10,000,000,000 today. She gave away over $200,000,000 over the years so her money kept growing.

Nobody wanted to marry Astor. Babe Paley's sister Minnie was married to him and wanted out. But first, he told her, you have to find your replacement. No takers. Vincent himself went up to one woman at a party and said, "Marry me. When I die, I'll leave everything to you. And my doctors tell me I don't have much longer to live." The woman looked at him and said, "But Vincent. What if your doctors are wrong!"

What was so wrong with Vincent Astor that nobody wanted marry him?

From Vanity Fair:

Minnie Cushing, decided that Brooke would be the perfect woman to take this notoriously angry, psychotic, drunken, but by no means stupid grandee off her fragile hands. Vincent was still smarting from a rejection by the beautiful heiress Janet Rhinelander Stewart. To cajole Janet into marriage, Vincent told her that his doctors had said he would be dead within three years. “But, Vincent, what if the doctors are wrong?” she famously replied.

I understand there is some story about Vincent Astor promising to die if someone would marry him. I've never heard the details. Could someone dig it up for me?

Brooke in 1956. She would be 53-54.

I maintain that (up until the end, when her health was failing), Brooke improved with age. Never a classic beauty, but a stately woman who grew into her looks and developed her own style over the decades.

[quote]But Brooke Astor had no intention of confining herself to board rooms and their denizens. Considering it her duty to evaluate personally every organization seeking help from her foundation, she sallied forth in her chauffeur-driven Mercedes-Benz to visit churches and tenements and neighborhood programs throughout the city, to witness the ground-breaking of a playground in a Brooklyn slum, or the launching of a day care center in the impoverished South Bronx. During these forays she was often treated to lunch on paper plates and plastic folding tables set up for the occasion, prompting her to exclaim over the “delicious sauces” – deli mustard and pickle relish.

I don't want to derail a BRF thread to talk about Brooke Astor, so I'll post this here. What an example for us all!

I love a grand ole dame like Brooke. Who do we have now? Somers Farkas?

Speaking of Minnie I can't wait to read the book The Sisters by David Grafton.

It's about the lives of the Cushing Sisters--Babe, Betsey & Minnie