Brooke Astor
| Brooke Astor | |
|---|---|
Brooke Astor in 2002 in her duplex
|
|
| Born |
Roberta Brooke Russell March 30, 1902 Portsmouth, New Hampshire |
| Died | August 13, 2007 (aged 105) Briarcliff Manor, New York |
| Education |
The Madeira School Holton-Arms School |
| Occupation | Writer, philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) |
John Dryden Kuser (m. 1919; div. 1930) Charles Henry Marshall (m. 1932; his death 1952) William Vincent Astor (m. 1953; his death 1959) |
| Children | Anthony Dryden Marshall |
| Parent(s) |
John Henry Russell, Jr. Mabel Cecile Hornby Howard |
| Relatives | John Henry Russell, Sr. (grandfather) |
Roberta Brooke Astor (née Russell; March 30, 1902 – August 13, 2007) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and writer 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 Astor was the author of two novels and two volumes of personal memoirs.
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 Washington, D.C..
She married her first husband, John Dryden Kuser (1897–1964), shortly after her 17th 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."
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. John Kuser later became a New Jersey Republican councilman, assemblyman, and state senator. They also lived in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
...
Wikipedia