Brooke Astor, widow of Vincent Astor, died yesterday. She was 105.
During her tenure at the Astor Foundation, she gave away nearly $200 million to support New York City’s great cultural institutions and a host of humbler projects, died Monday. Brooke Astor gave millions to what she called the city’s “crown jewels” — among them the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Natural History, Central Park and the Bronx Zoo.
I attended a dinner at the NY Public Library in 2002 at which Ms. Astor was also in attendance. She seemed to me a genuine and honest individual.