Brooke Astor's father was at one time commandant of the Marine Corps. Vincent Astor was her third husband, and the son of the Colonel Astor who went down on the Titanic. After Vincent's death in 1959, Brooke devoted her time to supervising the trust that distributed the bulk of the Astor fortune to charity.
In the paper they said her motto was "Money is like horse manure and should be spread around".