Brooke Astor (born 30 March 1902)¹ was born Roberta Brooke Russell in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the daughter of John Henry Russell, a Marine Corps officer, and his wife née Mabel Cecile Hornby Howard. Her father, who retired as a major general, ended his military career as 16th commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.

After a childhood spent in China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and points beyond, Brooke Russell married three times, the first time at age 16, to J. Dryden Kuser. She described this marriage as "the worst years of her life", with her husband physically abusing her, drinking to excess and philandering.Their only child, Anthony Dryden, born in 1924, was later was adopted by her second husband, Charles Marshall , a stockbroker; as Anthony Dryden Marshall , he served as U.S. ambassador to Malagasy Republic, Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago, and Seychelles.

She achieved particular social prominence through her brief third marriage, in 1953, to Vincent Astor (1891-1959), last particularly wealthy American member of the famous Astor family and elder son of Titanic victim John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912).

Upon Vincent Astor's death in 1959 she took charge of the philanthropies to which he left his fortune, and despite liquidating the Vincent Astor Foundation in 1997 has continued, as of 2004, to be active in charities and in New York's social life.

¹. some sources say 31 March, 1902