brooke astor

March 30, 1902(1902-03-30)

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA Died August 13, 2007 (aged 105)

Briarcliff Manor, New York, USA Occupation Heiress, philanthropist Spouse(s) J. Dryden Kuser (m. 1919-1930)

Charles H. Marshall (m. 1932-1952)

Vincent Astor (m. 1953-1959) Children Anthony Dryden Marshall Parents John Henry Russell, Jr. Relatives John Henry Russell, grandfather

Brooke Astor (March 30, 1902 – August 13, 2007) was an American philanthropist and socialite who was the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, which had been established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, great-great-grandson of the first multi-millionaire John Jacob Astor. She was also a novelist and wrote two volumes of memoirs. Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Marriages 2.1 J. Dryden Kuser 2.2 Charles H. Marshall 2.3 Vincent Astor 3 Philanthropy 4 Elder abuse controversy 5 Estate tampering 6 Death 7 External links 8 Bibliography 9 In fiction 10 See also 11 References //

Early life

She was born Roberta Brooke Russell in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the only child of John Henry Russell, Jr. (1872-1947), the 16th Commandant of the Marine Corps and his wife, née Mabel Cecile Hornby Howard (1879-1967). Her paternal grandfather was John Henry Russell, a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy. She was named for her maternal grandmother, Roberta Traill Brooke MacGill Howard 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 Holton-Arms.

Marriages

J. Dryden Kuser

She married her first husband, John Dryden Kuser (1897-1964), shortly after her seventeenth birthday, on 26 April 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]

Her husband, the son of the financier and conservationist Col. Anthony Rudolph Kuser and grandson of U.S. Senator John F. Dryden, later became a New Jersey Republican councilman, assemblyman, and state senator.[2]

"Worst years of my life"[1] was how Astor described her tumultuous first marriage, 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.[3] "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, Dryden Kuser "began to embarrass her in social activities, ... told her that he no longer loved her and that their marriage was a failure."[4]