Brooke Astor Brooke Astor 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
Vincent Astor expedition flight to the South Pole. Astor had been a contributing philanthropist to the expedition. Vincent Astor William Vincent Astor (November 15, 1891 – February 3, 1959) was a businessman, philanthropist, and member of the prominent Astor family. Called Vincent, he was born in New York City on November 15, 1891. He was the son of John Jacob Astor IV, millionaire and inventor and his first wife, Ava Lowle Willing, an heiress from Philadelphia. He graduated from St. George's School, in Middletown, Rhode Island, in 1910 and attended Harvard University from 1911 to 1912, leaving school without graduating. Like his