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
Brooke Astor with her associate Billy Baldwin, decorated the Marshalls' apartment at 1 Gracie Square in New York City. In October 1953, 11 months after Charles Marshall's death, she married her third and final husband, William Vincent Astor (1891–1959), the chairman of the board of "Newsweek" magazine and the last notably rich American member of the famous Astor family. Vincent was the son of "RMS Titanic" victim John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV (1864–1912) and socialite Ava Lowle Willing (1868–1958), he had been married and divorced twice before, was childless, and was known to have a difficult personality. "He had a dreadful childhood,