Brooke Astor

Philanthropist Brooke Astor was born in New Hampshire, on 30th March 1902. She was the only child of her parents. Her Father Name was John Henry Russell, Jr. as he was the 16th Commandant of the US Marine Corps. She raised in different cities like Mexico, Waikiki, Peking, and Panama.

She got married three times in her life. Her first marriage was done at the age of 17 when she left her high school to marry with her boy friend named J. Dryden Kuser. But after marriage she came to know that her husband J. Dryden Kuser drank heavily, cheated on her and also beat her some times. Finally he announced that he no longer loved her after a year of marriage.

Charles Marshall a stockbroker by profession was her second husband, to whom she married in 1932. He had two step children by this marriage and later she wrote that this marriage was a great Love Match. During Second World War she worked as a nurse and after world war comes to an end she starts working in House & Garden magazine and later she became an editor there. She also known as a novelist and wrote wonderful volumes of her memories.

After the death of her second husband in 1952 she married third and final time with Vincent Astor the chairman of the board of Newsweek magazine. She was appointed as a member of the board of the Astor Foundation after her marriage and she took charge of all the philanthropies in 1959 after the death of her husband. She served there as a Trustee and chaired the Visiting Committee.

On 13, August 2007 At the age of 105 year Philanthropist Brooke Astor died from pneumonia at her home in New York. In last days of her life, Astor also suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.