John Jacob Astor IV Alida Rebecca Armstrong, Astor was also a great-grandson of Senator John Armstrong, Jr. and Alida Livingston of the Livingston family. His maternal grandparents were Abraham Schermerhorn, a wealthy merchant, and socialite Helen Van Courtlandt White. He was also a nephew of financier and philanthropist John Jacob Astor III, and grandnephew of occasional poet John Jacob Astor, Jr. His sister Helen's husband was diplomat James Roosevelt "Rosey" Roosevelt, half-brother of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the Roosevelt family. Another sister, Carrie, a noted philanthropist, was the wife of Marshall Orme Wilson (brother of banker Richard Thornton Wilson, Jr. and socialite Grace
John Jacob Astor Hotel ownership of the hotel changed hands several times. In late 1951, the Hotel Astoria was renamed the John Jacob Astor Hotel, in honor of the city's namesake, John Jacob Astor. The landmark building was repainted pink. However, a postwar decline in business continued, and other problems persisted. In 1961, the Astoria Fire Department found 51 code violations, six of them major, but all of the violations remained uncorrected seven years later. The restaurant and "Fur Trader Lounge" bar were closed by the Internal Revenue Service in early 1968 for failure to pay taxes. In 1968, city officials condemned the building,