Philanthropist Brooke Astor died this afternoon. In her book, “Patchwork Child: Early Memories,” she offers a strong hint of the woman she would become.
In a section about her family, she says: “Like everyone else, I am blood and bone and characteristics of my forebears.”
And a short while later, she writes about her father, the son of an admiral, that he wanted very much to go to Annapolis. Her grandfather, however, had decided that the Navy had grown too big and that it was no longer a gentleman’s profession.
Her father had the advantage, she wrote. The family was living in Washington D.C. and he knew that the president could appoint a certain number of candidates to the Naval Academy.
“So he, at the age of fifteen, boldly went to the White House and asked to see the President. It seems extraordinary to me today but President Cleveland did see him and Father explained what he wanted. The President was hesitant at first and told Father that his last appointees had not been very successful; he was not sure that he wanted to appoint any more.
‘You can be sure, Mr. President,’ said Father, ‘that I will succeed. You can put your trust in me.’”
It seems that she was very much blood and bone and characteristics of her forebears.
Here’s what Mayor Michael Bloomberg had to say about her:
“Today, we are all saddened by the loss of Brooke Astor, a quintessential New Yorker and one of the great philanthropists of our time. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers were the beneficiaries of Mrs. Astor’s good will and kind nature, many unaware of the origins of the donations. Her contributions reached a wide variety of causes; The New York Public Library, and the entire city, would not be what they are today without her gracious support.”