New York socialite Brooke Astor dead at 105

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York socialite Brooke Astor, a philanthropist whose generous gifts were a cornerstone for cultural institutions and charities across the city, died on Monday at the age of 105.

Astor died of pneumonia at Holly Hill, her estate in Briarcliff Manor, New York, said Kenneth E. Warner, lawyer for her son Anthony Marshall.

Astor was married to Vincent Astor and, when he died, inherited part of a fortune made in fur trading and real estate by John Jacob Astor in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

She donated some $195 million to libraries, museums and charitable organizations. She was also a posed and elegant fixture for decades on the New York social scene.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called 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," he said in a statement.

Former New York Mayor Abraham Beame once said of her, "She has done more for New York City than any other one person."

Her son Marshall said in a statement that her tombstone would be inscribed with words she had requested: "I had a wonderful life."

Astor's last years were marked with controversy when a court ordered her care be taken away from Marshall in October after he was accused by his son Philip of keeping her in squalid conditions. Marshall denied the accusations.

The family feud cast a shadow over one of New York's most renowned and wealthy families. Guardianship of Astor was given to her friend Annette de la Renta, the wife of designer Oscar de la Renta.

'MONEY IS LIKE MANUR'

"Brooke left the world peacefully, in a dignified manner, in her own house. We could not have asked for more," Annette de la Renta said in a statement to The New York Times.

Astor was named as an example of elder abuse during a U.S. Senate hearing in Washington last year.

Born Roberta Brooke Russell in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Astor was the child of a Marine Corps officer and his wife. She lived on Marine posts in Hawaii, Panama, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and China, where she learned "coolie" Chinese.

At 16, her mother arranged a marriage to J. Dryden Kuser. Astor later said it was her only regret. They had a son, Anthony, but after 10 years the couple divorced.

Astor's second marriage, to stockbroker Charles H. (Buddie) Marshall in 1932 was a "true love match," in her words. Anthony, her only child who later became ambassador to Kenya, took Marshall's last name.

The marriage ended when Marshall died of a heart attack in 1952. Less than a year later, Astor wed Vincent Astor, the temperamental, twice-married multimillionaire and heir to the famed fur and real estate fortune.

Vincent Astor died less than six years after the wedding but left his wife control of the Vincent Astor Foundation, then worth $65 million. He was the oldest son of John Jacob Astor 4th, the one-time wealthiest man in the United States who went down with the Titanic.

"Money is like manure," Mrs. Astor, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998, said, paraphrasing Francis Bacon. "It should be spread around."

A longtime Republican, Astor often dined with President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy.

Her charitable work led to board appointments to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Zoological Society, Rockefeller University, Pierpont Morgan Library, the local public television station and the New York Public Library.

(Additional reporting by Joanne Kenen and Patricia Zengerle)