Brooke astor biography

Brooke Astor was born Roberta Brooke Russell in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on March 30, ¹ Her parents were John Henry Russell, Jr. (who was appointed Commandant of the Marine Corps in ), and Mabel Cecile Hornby Howard. Due to her father’s career, Brooke (as she was commonly known) spent much of her childhood traveling, but by her family settled in Washington, D.C.² She attended Miss Madeira’s School in , and later attended another girls’ boarding school, Holton-Arms, graduating in ³ She then married John Dryden Kuser in , but after eleven years she filed for divorce in  Brooke married her second husband, Charles Marshall in , and remained married to him until his death in ⁴ Brooke then took a job working as a feature editor at House and Garden magazine.⁵

In October , Brooke married Vincent Astor, a member of the prominent Astor family.⁶ Vincent Astor died of a heart attack in , bequeathing around half of his considerable fortune to his charitable organ

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Footprints: An Autobiography

Brooke Astor was a sheltered sixteen when she married a young man she met at her first prom at Princeton. In a matter of months, she left her patchwork childhood behind and entered the world of the Roaring Twenties. That marriage and her own intelligence and ebullience caused Brooke Astor to grow up quickly and to make the most of what life had to offer to a witty young woman of charm and spirit. Today Brooke Astor sits on the boards of most of the important New York institutions, including the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum, the Pierpont Morgan Library, and the Bronx Zoo. She administers the Astor Foundation, which gives away a considerable amount of money each year. Footprints recounts the fascinating life Brooke Astor has led: her disastrous first marriage; her second, a fairy-tale romance cut short by the early death of her husband; and her third, to Vincent Astor, one of the richest men in America. The daughter of a career mar

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Brooke Astor

American philanthropist, socialite, and writer (–)

Roberta Brooke Astor (née Russell; March 30, – August 13, ) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and writer. She served as the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, who was a member of the Astor family. Brooke Astor was the author of two novels and two volumes of personal memoirs.

Early life

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Roberta Brooke Russell was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the only child of John Henry Russell Jr., the 16th Commandant of the Marine Corps, and Mabel Cecile Hornby Howard. Her paternal grandfather John Henry Russell Sr. was a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy. She was named for her maternal grandmother (Roberta) and was known as Bobby to close friends and family.

Due to her father's career she spent much of her childhood abroad living in China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and other places. She briefly attended The Madeira School in , but graduated