John Jacob Astor IV IV was born on July 13, 1864 at his parents' country estate Ferncliff in Rhinebeck, New York. He was the youngest of five children and only son of businessman, collector, and race horse breeder/owner William Backhouse Astor, Jr. and socialite Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn. His four elder sisters were Emily, Helen, Charlotte, and Caroline ("Carrie"). He was a great-grandson of fur-trader John Jacob Astor and Sarah Cox Todd, whose fortune made the Astor family one of the wealthiest in the United States. Astor's paternal grandfather William Backhouse Astor, Sr. was a prominent real estate businessman. Through his paternal grandmother, Margaret
Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor He also supported war against Germany when it came although both remained uncomfortable with Joseph Stalin as an ally (from 1941). His son David Astor, who became owner and editor of "The Observer" in 1948, never forgave Claud Cockburn and his newssheet "The Week" for attacks on the "Cliveden Set". The Astor family donated Cliveden Estate in Buckinghamshire to the National Trust in 1942. Viscount Astor died on 30 September 1952 at Cliveden near Taplow, England, and was buried in the Octagon Temple at Cliveden. His eldest son Bill succeeded him as Viscount. Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor Waldorf Astor,