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inlnews.com
Anthony and Son, Philip Marshall, grandsonof Brooke Astor |
usaweekendnews.com
Anthony and Charlene Marshall coming out out of one of the most contraversial and public court cases in USA legal history |
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/18/brooke-astors-apartment-p_n_176593.html
Brooke Astor's Apartment Price Drops 37% (SLIDESHOW)
Read More: 788 Park Avenue, 788 Park Avenue Brooke Astor, Brook Astor, Brooke Astor, Brooke Astor 788 Park Avenue, Brooke Astor Apartment, Celebrity Real Estate, New York Real Estate, Real Estate,Slideshow, Business News
There's a Brooke Astor fire sale!
The asking price for the Park Avenue home of the late New York City socialite Brooke Astor was slashed 37% to $29 million.
Stribling took over the listing from The Corcoran Group last month, and proceeded to chop $17 million off the original $46 million asking price.
The 14-room property, which has been on the market since May 2008, features five bedrooms and four-and-a-half baths.
It occupies the entire 16th and part of the 15th floors of 788 Park Ave., and also boasts six terraces, five fireplaces and views of Park Avenue and Central Park.
The Astor property is not the only luxury residence to reduce its price: At 15 Central Park West, a penthouse on the 40th floor is now asking $47.5 million, down 40% from the $80 million it was originally put on the market for back in July 2008.
What's more, an apartment in the newly renovated Plaza is now $38 million after it was listed in September for $55 million.
Meanwhile, a 14-room property in the Dakota, the Central Park West building made famous with the death of John Lennon, is now asking $19.5 million, down 19% from $24 million in June.
 
 
Selling Off the Money Room
A last glimpse of Mrs. Astor’s apartment.
By Wendy Goodman
Published Apr 13, 2008
http://nymag.com/realestate/vu/2008/04/45966/
The Bedroom
“Brooke thought she would have Alan Campbell’s fabrics, so we did the walls and curtains in the same thing. I rearranged the room completely because the bed was in the wrong place. She would be looking right down the hall, so we moved the bed so she would face the fireplace.”
Photographs by William P. Steele
Albert Hadley is standing in the middle of his office, recalling a conversation he had with Brooke Astor in the late seventies. The doyenne had invited Hadley to tea at her 778 Park Avenue apartment. He knew the duplex by heart, of course; he’d decorated it in the late sixties with Sister Parish soon after he’d joined the firm. Astor had moved into the Rosario Candela–designed building at the corner of 73rd Street after the death of her husband, Vincent Astor, in 1959. Astor had arranged the meeting so she could give Hadley some bad news: She had decided to enlist the English decorator Geoffrey Bennison to redo the apartment’s library. She knew this would incur Parish’s wrath, and wanted Hadley’s advice. “I said, ‘Brooke, you don’t have anything fake in your life except this room,’?” Hadley recalls. He was referring to the Louis XV–style wood paneling that had been done in the early thirties, when the building was completed, and which Parish had left intact during the first decoration. Provoked, Astor asked him what he would do. He thought it could be both classic, to complement the architecture, and new. “She loved that,” he recalls. “Anything that was up-to-date, she got it right away.” Hadley got the job, and created a magnificent library for Vincent Astor’s rare books, which until that point had been in storage. The library he created featured brass-trimmed, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and red lacquered walls whose rich color required ten coats of paint. The room became a benchmark of Hadley’s career. (There is still one fake item in the final design: The false book panels behind the camel hide the air conditioner; see slide two.) Its owner’s sad final chapter is well known, but the apartment’s future isn’t; brokers are vying to represent its sale. Will the library, or any of the rooms Hadley did, survive a change in ownership? He spoke to us about the apartment, using photographs from his own archive that preserve one of New York City’s stateliest residences—a home built for entertaining and doing business, where presidents and kings took tea with Mrs. Astor.
   
 
  
John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times
Anthony D. Marshall, the son of the philanthropist Brooke Astor, served as his mother's investment adviser for years, and also had the legal authority to act on her behalf in some financial matters. It was not unusual for him to help guide his mother's investments and other expenditures as she grew increasingly frail. But the kinds of financial requests and investments he made later mushroomed into a scandal involving accusations of elder abuse and leading to his criminal trial in 2009 for fraud, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and falsifying business records, among other charges.
Mr. Marshall was found guilty on Oct. 8, 2009 of one of two first-degree grand larceny charges, the most serious he faced. Jurors convicted him of giving himself an unauthorized raise of about $1 million for managing his mother's finances. Prosecutors contended that Mrs. Astor's Alzheimer's had advanced so far that there was no way she could have consented to this raise and other financial decisions that benefited Mr. Marshall.
The legal dispute surrounding Mrs. Astor's relationship with her son and daughter-in-law began in 2006 when Mr. Marshall's son Philip charged in a court filing that his father had enriched himself at his grandmother's expense while neglecting her care. He accused his father of failing to fill her prescriptions, stripping her apartment of artwork, reducing her staff, confining her dogs, and generally darkening her final years. His request that his father be removed as Mrs. Astor's guardian was later granted. Mrs. Astor died in 2007 at the age of 105.
The dispute went on for months, until the parties announced a settlement, avoiding a court fight. But later criminal charges were filed against Mr. Marshall, charging him with fraud, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and falsifying business records -- all surrounding his mother's fortune. Mr. Marshall's trial began in early 2009.
Anthony Dryden Marshall
Anthony Dryden Marshall (born May 30, 1924) is an American theatrical producer who is a former marine, C.I.A. intelligence officer, and ambassador. He also is the former vice president of the Vincent Astor Foundation, which was established by his stepfather.
Known as Tony, Marshall is the only child of the American philanthropist Brooke Astor and her first husband, New Jersey state senator John Dryden Kuser. He was the stepson of Charles H. Marshall (his mother's second husband, whose surname he adopted at the age of 18) and also of the American millionaireVincent Astor (his mother's third husband).
By his father's second marriage, he has a half-sister, Suzanne Dryden Kuser, who served with the U.S. Department of State, was an intelligence officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, and has been a consultant to the National Security Agency.
He also had two stepsiblings, Peter Marshall and Helen Huntington Marshall (Mrs. Ernest Schelling).
Marshall attended Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts, and attended Brown University.
He served with the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and participated in the battle of Iwo Jima.
Anthony Dryden Marshall was the U.S. ambassador to the Malagasy Republic, Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Seychelles.
Marshall was an assistant to Richard M. Bissell Jr. during the development of the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft.
Anthony Marshall and his second wife, Charlene, have produced Broadway productions of "Alice in Wonderland," "Long Day's Journey into Night" (2003), and "I Am My Own Wife" (Tony Award, 2004). They formed Delphi Productions in 2003 with producer David Richenthal.
He married, as his first wife, on 26 July 1947, Elizabeth Cynthia Cryan. The ceremony took place at All Saints Episcopal Church inWynnewood, Pennsylvania. The groom's stepfather, Charles Marshall, was his best man. The couple had twin sons, Alexander (Alec) Marshall, a photographer, and Philip Cryan Marshall, a professor of architectural preservation at Roger Williams University. He had a second wife, to whom he was married for 23 years. More information about her is needed, including the date of his divorce from his first wife and the date of his marriage and divorce to and from his second.The couple separated in 1990 and were divorced shortly thereafter, following the revelation of Anthony Marshall's affair with Charlene T. Gilbert, the wife of an Episcopal priest in Northeast Harbor, Maine.He married in 1992, as his third wife, Charlene T. Gilbert (born July 27,1945), the former wife of the Rev. Paul E. Gilbert. By this marriage, he has two stepdaughters, Arden Delacey, who is the music director at the Cathedral School of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and Inness Hancock, an artist.
On 1 August 2006, The New York Times reported that Anthony Marshall was accused by Alice Perdue, who was employed in his mother's business office, of diverting nearly $1 million from his ailing mother's personal checking accounts into theatrical productions. Marshall, through a spokesman, said that Brooke Astor knew of the investments and approved of them. Perdue countered that Marshall had advised her never to send to his mother any documents of a financial nature because "she didn't understand it."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/nyregion/09will.html?_r=1
Despite Verdict, Fate of Astor Fortune Is Uncertain
By A. G. SULZBERGER Published: October 8, 2009
The spectacle of the Brooke Astor trial owed much of its public fascination to celebrity and circumstance — a son accused of greedily exploiting his aging mother, a beloved philanthropist who had dedicated much of her life to charity. Yet the conviction of Mrs. Astor’s son,Anthony D. Marshall, on charges that he stole from her has done little to resolve the uncertain fate of the $180 million estate at the heart of the discord. So even as Mr. Marshall awaits sentencing and a possible appeal, another legal showdown looms. As the public watched the criminal trial unfold over the last five months, a small army of lawyers, including those for a dozen charities, read the tea leaves for some sense of how they could alter the jockeying over the Astor fortune. TheMetropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library, the two main beneficiaries of Mrs. Astor’s largess, even sent observers to the trial. The expected contest — which could be sidestepped by a settlement — is in Westchester County Surrogate’s Court, and centers on whether Mrs. Astor’s assets should be distributed according to her most recent will, from 2002, or an earlier version, which directed more money to charity. At the core of this issue is whether Mrs. Astor was mentally competent when she signed the 2002 will, which was amended in late 2003 and again in early 2004. Those revisions gave her son more control over her estate and, in the process, reduced the amount of money she left to the New York universities, libraries, parks and museums she spent so much of her life supporting. The sweeping verdict against Mr. Marshall may provide a significant boost to their push to have the recent will thrown out as invalid, lawyers say. “It’s very unusual and directly relevant to the issues before the surrogate because both cases concern her mental capacity,” said Paul C. Saunders, a lawyer for Annette de la Renta, who was Mrs. Astor’s court-appointed guardian and is a party in the Surrogate’s Court case. “Clearly the jury believes she didn’t have the capacity to understand what she was doing.” The maneuvering began almost immediately after Mrs. Astor’s death on Aug. 13, 2007, with a dispute over who should be named administrators of the estate (the court eventually named JPMorgan Chase & Company and a retired judge). The case began to move quickly toward a will battle, though no formal objection has yet been filed. If the most recent will is upheld, many charities will lose millions of dollars, with the Met and the library — both of which declined to comment — losing out on an estimated $10 million each. The Surrogate’s Court case was postponed pending the resolution of the criminal case, and it remained unclear whether it would resume if Mr. Marshall appealed his conviction. The court is scheduled to discuss the civil case again on Nov. 4. Because there is little precedent for criminal charges to be brought in a will dispute, legal experts said it was difficult to predict how the testimony gathered during 19 weeks in court or the criminal convictions of Mr. Marshall and Francis X. Morrissey Jr., a lawyer who did estate work for Mrs. Astor, would affect the outcome. However, the standard of proof in criminal court (beyond a reasonable doubt) is higher than in civil court (a preponderance of the evidence), so a criminal conviction would appear to be unfavorable for Mr. Marshall. The jury found that Mr. Marshall had conspired to defraud his mother by tricking her into altering her will twice and that her signature on one of those codicils was forged by Mr. Morrissey. While the criminal case did not include charges regarding the 2002 will or the first amendment, guilty verdicts on other charges not directly related to the will changes suggest that the jury believed that questions about Mrs. Astor’s competency predated them. In the past, Kenneth E. Warner, a lawyer representing Mr. Marshall in both cases, has accused Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, of consciously influencing the civil case by bringing criminal charges — a decision that could swing the civil battle toward an outcome more favorable to some of the most influential institutions in the city. Mr. Warner declined to comment Thursday. Before the civil case was put on hold in late 2007, the judge overseeing the case said the dispute was close to being settled. However, participants in those discussions said no specific settlement offer was ever made, and the verdict on Thursday could affect any previous negotiations. One complicating factor is that Mrs. Astor included a provision aimed at discouraging any challenge to her will. It states that anyone who contests the will and loses will receive nothing. Those who considered filing a challenge waited for a resolution of the criminal case to get a sense of how it might be received. However, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who by statute represents charities in such disputes, is not bound by the provision.nMrs. Astor’s court-appointed guardians — as well as her grandsons and a number of high-profile friends — have backed the charities in pressing the court to adopt a will that Mrs. Astor signed in 1997.n Regardless of which will is adopted, Mr. Marshall and the charities will receive a considerable amount of his mother’s estate, including money and property. However, if the 1997 will is adopted, most of the money will be locked in a trust that will provide him payments to live on but go to charity upon his death.
Michael Appleton for The New York Times
“I was neither star-struck nor impressed, other than by Brooke Astor’s achievements over her life.”KRISTINA JEZYCKI, event planner, 43
In Court and Outside It, Money Plays Lead Role
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS Published: October 9, 2009
Amid the testimony about wealth and privilege, at least two of the jurors in the trial of Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall, found their own lives becoming poorer and poorer. As the trial stretched through six months, much longer than the judge had anticipated, the forewoman, Kristina Jezycki, realized that her event-planning clients were holding parties without her. Another juror, Philip Bump, saw his career as a labor consultant “essentially shattered,” he said Friday. Outside the courtroom, the recession was transforming the whole country, and the fall of Mr. Marshall, who was convicted Thursday of stealing millions from his ailing mother, was playing out in tandem with the collapse of an economy built around the pursuit of wealth. Life was becoming strained inside the jury box, too. Vacations were put on hold. Jurors celebrated their birthdays with cupcakes from other jurors. Testimony bordered on tedious for weeks on end. And money — their own and Mrs. Astor’s, its use and abuse — was constantly on the jurors’ minds, several said Friday. Yet, they said, they did not allow the backdrop of current events and their own lives to influence their judgment. “At no point in time did I look at Anthony Marshall and say, ‘Oh, that’s one of those disgusting plutocrats running America,’ ” Mr. Bump said. As the weeks stretched on, even those who were not missing out on work had to make sacrifices. Olga Zugor, a widow in her 70s and a painter who lives on East End Avenue, was forced to cancel a summer trip to Lyon, France, to visit her daughter and granddaughter, and then on to her native Hungary, which she fled in the 1950s. She said she had thought about how even without committing fraud, Mr. Marshall would have been far richer than anyone on the jury. “He could have had a very good life,” she said. “I feel sorry for people who have no moral compass.” The trial was grueling, Ms. Zugor said, and she relaxed by playing chess in the park near her home. Lawrence Kaagan, a consultant who lives in Morningside Heights, said his clients were graciously waiting for him to become available. During his hiatus, he said, he had plenty of time to think about how Mrs. Astor had maintained her sense of “civic engagement.” “We had ample opportunity — and sometimes too much opportunity — to marinate in the long history of what she committed herself to doing with the money she inherited,” he said. Ms. Jezycki, 43, interviewed outside her Upper East Side home while dressed to go to the gym, said she thought about how wealth can create pressure in families. She was fascinated by Mrs. Astor’s history as a socialite and philanthropist, her wit, flirtatiousness, and devotion to charities like the New York Public Library and theMetropolitan Museum of Art. But, Ms. Jezycki added, she did not let her proximity to wealth and power go to her head. “I was neither star-struck nor impressed, other than by Brooke Astor’s achievements over her life,” she said. At first Mr. Bump, 34, who grew up in Rochester and now lives on the Upper East Side, felt flattered and slightly intimidated by the thought that he would be sitting in judgment of an heir to the Astor family fortune. He recalled that his thought upon being selected was: “Oh my God, I’m on this important trial. The state considers me a peer of the Astor family.” As he listened to well-known figures like Henry Kissinger and Annette de la Renta testify, he found that he was becoming more conscious of New York’s high society. “Since the trial started, I’ve started to notice them more,” he said. But as the testimony about forged codicils, valuable paintings and estate management unspooled, Mr. Bump and Ms. Jezycki found their own circumstances unraveling. Ms. Jezycki’s business as an event planner and caterer foundered because her corporate clients were scheduling events during the day, when she was occupied with the trial. “The loss of time affected my business,” she said. She has started a new business, a line of salts and spices called Artistic Taste. Mr. Bump lost contact with clients and scraped by working nights for City CouncilmanEric N. Gioia’s campaign for public advocate. It helped that his wife had a job with health insurance. “I feel as though I don’t have enough time to try and rebuild what I was doing,” he said. “At this point, I have to transition.” Some jurors worked for companies that paid them their regular salaries. Ms. Jezycki and Mr. Bump had to get by on the standard rate of $46 a day. Neither is bitter. Ms. Jezycki said she found Mrs. Astor an inspiration. “In a strange way, it helped me realize it was time to do something else,” she said. Mr. Bump became convinced of the truth of the maxim about money and happiness. Mr. Marshall and his wife, Charlene, “certainly weren’t happy with where they were,” he said. “I don’t think this kind of life leads to internal happiness,” he said. “That is patently not the case.”
Jonathan Allen, John Eligon and Christine Haughney contributed reporting.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Astor/brooke-astor-son-anthony-marshall-guilty-fraud-larceny/story?id=8629431
The defendant, his wife, the lawyers, the friends, the matriarch and the money.
Brooke Astor Trial Verdict Latest in Long Family Drama
Before Trial and Fight Over Fortune, Brooke Astor Reigned Over New York City
By DEBORAH ROBERTS and JOAN MARTELLI Oct. 8, 2009
Brooke Astor's son Anthony Marshall was convicted of tricking his late mother out of millions, and changing her will while the New York City socialite was incompetent and suffering fromAlzheimer's in her final years.
After more than five months in criminal court, jurors convicted 85-year-old Marshall of 14 criminal counts, including fraud and grand larceny. Co-defendant Francis Morrissey, Astor's estate lawyer, was found guilty on all six counts of conspiracy, scheming to defraud and forgery.The verdict comes as a surprise, after reports of upset jury members and a possible mistrial swirled, as the jury entered their 12th day of deliberation. The jury said that the verdict was reached unanimously. Astor was the epitome of high society in New York and a respected philanthropist donating about $200 million to city landmarks such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library. She died in August 2007 at the age of 105.
Philip, Tony and Charlene Marshall Speak Exclusively to "20/20" Friday at 10 p.m. ET
The trial brought to light what prosecutors say was a tragic end for the New York City socialite, whose mental state had deteriorated to the point where she could no longer recognize her own family.Marshall, who could spend a minimum of one year and up to 25 in prison, faced the judge and then the jury as the verdict was read. His wife Charlene Marshall, who was cast as the villain in her husband's trial, sat silently. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 8. Marshall was found not guilty on charges of larceny, relating to the controversial sale of Astor's prized Childe Hassam painting, and falsifying business records.Prosecutors asked for bail to be raised from $100,000 to a $5 million bond for each defendant, but Justice Bartley Jr. ruled that the current bail was sufficient."I hope this brings some consolation and closure for the many people, including my grandmother's loyal staff, caregivers and friends, who helped when she was so vulnerable and so manipulated," Astor's grandson, Philip Marshall, said in a statement.When Philip filed for guardianship of Astor in 2006, accusing his father of neglect, some of the allegations caught the eye of prosecutors, who charged Tony Marshall, 85, on criminal counts of larceny and scheming to defraud. Marshall claims the charges of elder abuse were unsubstantiated. In October 2006, he settled the charges, returning some money, jewelry and artwork, and relinquishing control over his mother's finances. "20/20" spoke exclusively to Marshall, his wife Charlene and son Philip in the weeks before the verdict. Philip, who testified against his father for the prosecution, told "20/20" while he never wanted a public trial, it has cast a spotlight on an epidemic of elder abuse. "[Brooke] didn't choose this. ...Certainly she wouldn't like what's happening, but look what it's doing, in terms of addressing an incredible cause," he said. "And I think what the result of what we're in the fray of now, and how this will extend beyond Brooke, is really personally very important, about how this will inform the greater discussion of elder justice." The Astor case has cast a spotlight on an epidemic of elder abuse. Up to 2 million Americans, age 65 and older, have been victims of abuse or neglect by their caregivers, according to the National Center on Elder Abuse, and 60 percent of those cases are by a family member. If this could happen to one of the richest women in the world, couldn't it happen to anyone?
But the verdict is just the latest chapter in a long family drama.
"You rarely see a famous family like this falling apart in public," said Meryl Gordon, author of the biography, "Mrs. Astor Regrets." "I kept thinking whatever happened  here, it started a long time ago."
Brooke Astor Trial By the Numbers
Astor Trial Full Coverage: Inside the Scandal
Exclusive: Astor Family Dishes on High-Society Scandal
Producer John Hart had front-row seat to decline of lady 'gaga' Brooke Astor
Michael Daly Tuesday, May 12th 2009
John Hart produced movies such as "Proof" and "Revolutionary Road" as well as Broadway shows such as "Guys and Dolls" and "Annie Get Your Gun," but none matches the real-life fairy tale that began when he met Brooke Astor at a dinner party.
The 1992 gathering was hosted by Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, now on trial for stealing millions from her after she became - in her own words - "gaga."
Hart was called to the witness stand Monday as one of many witnesses to Astor's decline. She was still sharp and witty and supremely spirited at that first meeting, he said. He was thrilled to become her escort over the next few years.
"She gave me entrée to a world I never would have gotten into," the now-57-year-old producer testified.
Then a newcomer from Ohio, he found himself moving through New York's most glittering and exciting realms. He lunched with Astor at the exclusive Knickerbocker Club often enough that he began calling it "the Knick."
An almost surreal moment came in 1995 at Astor's estate in Maine. She told him she wanted to read something to him out of her son's earshot and took him to a hideaway on the estate she called her "camp."
"A Japanese pagoda with a moat around it," he said in describing the camp.
He and Astor swam in the moat and then she read aloud to him from Andrew Carnegie's autobiography.
"Carnegie said very little good comes from inherited wealth," Hart testified. "I said, 'What about the Rockefellers?' She said that was the exception."
She did not consider her son and grandchildren likely exceptions.
"I always wished I had money," Hart testified. "The notion that Brooke thought it was a bad idea was kind of amazing."
Meanwhile, Astor proceeded into her late 90s as sparky as ever, active in the city's great cultural institutions, proud of visiting every recipient of her legendary philanthropy.
President Bill Clinton awarded her the Medal of Freedom, and she was not unhappy to report he placed his hand on what she termed her "lower back."
"I think she thought he flirted with her," Hart testified. "She was pleased with the attention."
Astor developed a huge crush on the actor Matthew Broderick, who starred in Hart's 1995 revival of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."
"She saw it five times," Hart reported.
When Broderick starred in "The Producers" six years later, Hart took Astor to a performance and then to dinner at Orso. Broderick came into the restaurant and Astor proved that age was finally catching up with her.
"She said, 'Who are you?'" Hart testified. "He said, 'Brooke, I'm Matthew. You love me!'"
As she faded further, Astor no longer recognized Hart when he visited her at her Westchester estate. He would read to her from her autobiography, showing her the pictures.
"I would hold up the book and say, 'Brooke, who is that?'" he testified. "She would say, 'That's me!'"
The fairy tale that began at a dinner party ended with Hart sitting alone with Astor in one of the expansive rooms where there had been such glittering gatherings. A glass menagerie was arrayed on a table and they played with the little animals as if she were a child again.
"I found that very endearing," he testified Monday.
mdaly@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/05/12/2009-05-12_producer_had_frontrow_seat_to_decline_of_lady_gaga.html#ixzz0Tccrq8PE
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/05/12/2009-05-12_producer_had_frontrow_seat_to_decline_of_lady_gaga.html#ixzz0TccD1DKR
Brooke Astor's despised daughter-in-law Charlene Marshall breaks down in court on anniversary
By Melissa Grace, Marc A. Hermann and Corky Siemaszko
Daily News Writers Friday, May 8th 2009, 6:30 AM
Lawyers for Brooke Astor's accused-swindler son tried to turn the tables on prosecutors yesterday by hijacking their best evidence.
A day that began with Astor's daughter-in-law crying in the courtroom got even more bizarre when the defense team took the wraps off a 35-minute video that prosecutors say shows she was senile and unable to identify famous pals like Barbara Walters and Kofi Annan.
Prosecutors planned to show jurors the tape to buttress their argument that Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, and a lawyer buddy took advantage of her senility to plunder her $185 million fortune.
Instead, the defense got first crack at it and aired a portion of the video that showed Astor delivering a witty, lucid, two-minute speech that left everyone laughing.
"My mother used to say to me, 'Brooke, don't get beyond yourself' and I feel that I must have gotten very beyond myself tonight to have all these nice people saying nice things about me," said Astor, resplendent in a pale blue dress at the 2002 affair.
While Astor repeated herself at times, she didn't look like the doddering dowager prosecutors claim she was before she died in 2007 at age 105.
"There is no doubt she was fully aware of where she was, fully aware of the occasion," defense lawyer Ken Warner said outside court. Later, prosecutors played the entire tape, but the damage was done.
At another point, the defense showed the jury a four-page letter Astor wrote to pal Annette de la Renta - a letter they'd found in the prosecution's packet of evidence.
Astor's letter was lucid and clear. She even said nice things about her daughter-in-law, Charlene, whom she loathed.
"Tony is so happy with, at last, a wife that loves him," she wrote in 2002, long after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
Prosecutors say Marshall, 84, and Francis Morrissey swindled Astor to satisfy Charlene's lust for money. The defense maintains Astor was fine when she updated her will in January 2004 to give her son $60 million.
Charlene Marshall, who's been vilified at the trial, broke down when she arrived at court. Warner said she was upset because it was their 17th wedding anniversary.
With Edgar Sandoval
mgrace@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/07/2009-05-07_brooke_astors_despised_daughterinlaw_charlene_marshall_breaks_down_in_court_on_a.html#ixzz0TcbjGcX1
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/07/2009-05-07_brooke_astors_despised_daughterinlaw_charlene_marshall_breaks_down_in_court_on_a.html#ixzz0TcbFmFRc
Hermann for News
Anthony Marshall, son of the late Brooke Astor, with his wife, Charlene Marshall, at Manhattan Supreme Court last month.
Brooke Astor fraud trial: Verdict on counts against Anthony Marshall, lawyer to be announced at 2:15
BY MELISSA GRACE AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Thursday, October 8th 2009,
It's verdict time!
Jurors in the epic Brooke Astor fraud trial told the judge Thursday they have a reached a decision in the case against the socialite's son, Anthony Marshall, and his lawyer buddy, Francis Morrissey, sources said.
It's unclear if they reached a verdict on all 18 counts counts against Marshall and Morrissey - or just on some of the counts. It will be announced around 2:15 p.m.
The panel sent the message shortly after Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Kirke Bartley announced that he would ask the jury to reveal any verdicts they've reached after 12 days of deliberation.
"It is my inclination to take those verdicts, if there are any verdicts, today," Bartley told lawyers.
Marshall, 85, looked stunned by Bartley's announcement. His wife, Charlene, stroked his white hair as they sat on a court bench.
Charlene Marshall's face was beet red and she appeared to be crying. Later, when asked how she was holding up, the clearly nervous woman said, "Fine."
Meanwhile, Morrissey, 66, appeared calm as he spoke to his lawyer,Thomas Puccio.
Marshall and Morrissey are charged with taking advantage of a senile Astor to loot her fortune. She died two years ago at age 105.
Defense lawyers objected to Bartley's move.
"The only concern is that the question may have the effect of coercing a verdict that has not been reached," said one of Marshall's lawyers, John Cuti.
Prosecutors sided with the judge.
"Let them come out and give it," said Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann. "If it is an acquital, so be it. If it is a guilty verdict, that is fine too."
Ultimately, Bartley stuck by his decision but reassured the defense that he will not suggest to the jury that they should have reached a verdict by now.
Bartley was working on the wording of what he planned to say to the jury when the panel sent the message it had reached a verdict.
Bartley was forced to impose some order on his court earlier this week after a female juror claimed another panel member "personally threatened" her.
The judge shot down a defense request for a mistrial after refusing the woman's bid to be "dismissed anonymously."
Had Bartley granted her request, he would have been forced to declare a mistrial - and 19 weeks of testimony would have gone to waste.
The upset juror is believed to be No. 8, a 46-year-old lawyer at the media company Bloomberg News.
Since then, the jury, clearly feeling the strain of a five month trial, has been soldiering through the counts.
The jury has repeatedly asked about a larceny count that accuses Marshall of giving himself a $1 million pay raise. That charge alone carries up to 25 years in jail.
There have also been other signs the panel is far from done.
In one of many notes to Bartley, the jury asked to be dismissed for the Columbus Day weekend at 2:30 p.m. Friday because one juror has a flight to catch.
With Kerry Wills
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Astor trial: The blue blood of Anthony and Charlene Marshall was ice cold
JOANNA MOLLOY
Updated Friday, October 9th 2009, 6:52 AM
Hirsch/Pool
Anthony Marshall is consoled by his wife, Charlene, after jury found him guilty of ripping of his senile mother, Brooke Astor.
Anthony Marshall had bitter tears in his eyes as the jury pronounced the frail, 85-year-old son of Brooke Astor guilty of plundering his mother's fortune.
It was hard to watch. Marshall sat stunned, and had to be helped up by his red-faced wife, Charlene, who shouted to reporters, "I love my husband!"
It was she - a woman of humble origins and grand designs - who motivated him to steal from his philanthropist mother as she descended into the hell of Alzheimer's.
But, of course, this whole sordid saga was the ultimate "Upstairs, Downstairs" story.
Astor's nurses and chauffeur, her butler and her maids, witnessed the chicanery, and told about it in Judge Kirke Bartley's courtroom at 100 Centre St., 90 blocks and worlds away from Astor's Park Ave. aerie.
And a New York jury of teachers, cooks, designers and the unemployed listened intently and decided Marshall had swindled his helpless mother.
Yes, prosecutors Elizabeth Loewy, Joel Seidemann and Peirce Moserbrought in bold-faced names - Henry Kissinger, Barbara Walters, Graydon Carter - to say Astor's mind faded away long before her body.
That, in Astor's words, she was "going gaga" as Marshall began ladling her $185 million fortune into his trough.
But it was "little people," as Leona Helsmley derisively described them, who brought him down and set him on a path that could end behind the stone walls of places like Sing Sing or Dannemora.
Housekeeper Angela Moore said that on the same day in 2004 that Marshall and his pal Francis Morrissey had Astor sign a will change shifting $60 million to Marshall, Astor had a paranoid fantasy that they were hiding under her bed. Moore also saw the Marshalls walk out of the house with a $500,000 painting in a shopping bag.
Bookkeeper Lourdes Hilario said Marshall gave himself a $920,000 raise - the exact price tag of his new yacht.
Butler Chris Ely testified that Marshall refused to allow Astor to go to her beloved estate along the Hudson, where in nature, she felt close to God.
Nurse Pearline Noble, who called Charlene "Miss Piggy," said Astor was "disoriented" the day she changed her will to boost Morrissey's fees.
After waiting so long, the Iwo Jima vet made an end-of-life grab for what he thought he deserved. But the jurors, after five months out of their own lives, decided Marshall had committed crimes. Fourteen of them.
It's sad that Charlene, in the words of her friend, artist Richard Osterweil, was likely "the only one who ever really loved him for who he was."
It seems Brooke Astor, for all the millions she gave New York, didn't give her only child what he'd always sought - approval.
She was an ambivalent mother at best. In her memoirs "Patchwork Child" and "Footprints," Astor said Tony was conceived in an act she "didn't participate in willingly" when she was the teen bride of rich but abusive Husband No. 1, Dryden Kuser.
When rich Husband No. 2 Buddie Marshall thought the nanny was spoiling him, she sent Anthony off to boarding school at age 10. "He was a wretched student," she wrote.
When she landed moneybags Husband No. 3, Vincent Astor, she wrote, "I saw very little of Tony. I concentrated on Vincent."
I spoke with Astor once, in the 1990s, at her beloved main library, sitting like a rare orchid in a chiffon hat and crepe de chine suit. She was still coquettish, and her accent was out of a '20s society movie.
I was struck by her blue-gray eyes, which still had dance in them. I've thought often of those eyes, and wondered what she'd think if she could see how her fascinating life, like a colorful, transporting balloon, had landed.
In "Patchwork Child," which is not in circulation at the library to which she gave $25 million, she wrote, "Life is a lonely game to be played alone." It's a pity she didn't realize that's true only when it's about money, and not love.
jmolloy@nydailynews.com
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By JOHN ELIGON and A. G. SULZBERGER Published: September 14, 2009
Defense lawyers, in closing statements in the Astor trial on Monday, brushed off the testimony of most of the prosecution’s 72 witnesses, telling jurors to focus on a handful of witnesses and two particular moments: the signing of the second and third amendments to Brooke Astor’s will. “Please keep your eye on the ball,” Frederick P. Hafetz, the lawyer for Mrs. Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall, told the jury. Thomas P. Puccio, the lawyer for the co-defendant, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., an estate lawyer, stressed the dates that Mrs. Astor signed the amendments, or codicils. “The case against Francis Morrissey begins and ends with these moments on Jan. 12, 2004, and March 3, 2004,” Mr. Puccio said. Mr. Marshall, 85, and Mr. Morrissey, 66, face charges that they took advantage of Mrs. Astor’s dementia to trick her into changing her will and funnel millions of dollars their way. Mr. Hafetz and Mr. Puccio practically snickered when they referred to the prosecution’s case, attempting to portray as superfluous the testimony of many witnesses — including Barbara Walters and Henry Kissinger — who testified to Mrs. Astor’s declining mental state. Mr. Hafetz said the case against Mr. Marshall rested on “diversionary” evidence. The pivotal witnesses in the case, Mr. Hafetz and Mr. Puccio said, were G. Warren Whitaker and Robert Knuts, two lawyers who witnessed Mrs. Astor sign the second codicil, which gave her son outright control of a roughly $60 million portion of her estate. Both men testified in the trial that Mrs. Astor, who died two years ago at 105, was competent when she signed the codicil. “That is really it,” Mr. Hafetz said. “You could say, ‘Case closed, what were we doing here for all these weeks?’ ” The testimony of Mr. Whitaker, who drafted the second and third codicils, and Mr. Knuts could help clear the defendants of the charge of scheming to defraud, but both men have more serious counts to worry about. Mr. Morrissey is accused of forging Mrs. Astor’s signature on the third codicil, a charge that could send him to prison for up to seven years if convicted. Mr. Puccio offered several rebuttals to the forgery allegations, saying that a witness to the signing of the third codicil might have been confused, that the district attorney’s handwriting expert did not do a sufficiently thorough examination, and that Mr. Morrissey could not possibly have had the time to replace the page Mrs. Astor signed or the expertise to forge her signature. Earlier in the trial, which went through 18 weeks of testimony, Lia Opris, a maid for Mrs. Astor who was a witness to the signing of the third codicil, testified that the signature looked nothing like the one she remembered seeing Mrs. Astor sign. Mr. Puccio reread Ms. Opris’s testimony, in which she said that she remembered seeing Mrs. Astor sign a faded signature below a few lines of text with another paragraph below the signature. Mr. Puccio then took out the first codicil, which Ms. Opris also witnessed, and showed jurors that it matched Ms. Opris’s description of the third codicil’s signature. “She was obviously confusing what happened on the first codicil and the third codicil,” Mr. Puccio said. Mr. Puccio called Gus R. Lesnevich, the prosecution’s handwriting expert, a “hired gun” who stuck with his initial report only because his findings were described before the trial in The New York Times. “Once the world was told that this expert had found that to be a forgery, Brooke Astor could have gotten up and said, ‘I signed it,’ and it wouldn’t have made any difference,” Mr. Puccio said. “He was sticking with that story come hell and high water.” Mr. Puccio, who spoke for about two and a half hours, said the prosecution’s contention that Mr. Morrissey replaced the top page of the three-page codicil with one on which he had forged Mrs. Astor’s signature was not feasible. For one, he could not have found a sheet of paper with the watermark in the same place, Mr. Puccio said. He also would have had to go to great lengths to find the proper printer and would have needed the expertise to forge the signature himself or find others who could. “The case against Francis Morrissey rises or falls on this allegation, this cruel allegation of forgery, which doesn’t even have one leg to support it,” Mr. Puccio told the jury. “It was totally undressed before your eyes.” Mr. Hafetz has not addressed several charges against Mr. Marshall, including first-degree grand larceny. He is to continue Tuesday.
John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times
Anthony D. Marshall, who is accused of stealing from his mother, was taken away on a stretcher from State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Wednesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/nyregion/09astor.html
Astor’s Son Falls, Halting Testimony for a Day
By JOHN ELIGON Published: July 8, 2009
As he has labored to enter and exit a Manhattan courthouse over the past three months, Anthony D. Marshall has often appeared on the brink of collapse, saved only by a polished cane and the arms of his wife or his lawyer. But on Wednesday, he fell. During a morning break in testimony at his trial in State Supreme Court, Mr. Marshall, 85, became dizzy while using the bathroom, said Kenneth E. Warner, one of his lawyers. His body crumpled and his head smacked into the partition in a stall, Mr. Warner said. A folding chair was brought into the bathroom, where Mr. Marshall’s wife, Charlene, Mr. Warner and court officers tended to him. Paramedics later arrived, and Mr. Marshall was rolled out on a stretcher about 12:30 p.m. Justice A. Kirke Bartley Jr. suspended testimony for the rest of the day. Wednesday’s fall provided the starkest example of the role that Mr. Marshall’s health has played in a trial that has dissected the physical and mental state of his mother, Brooke Astor. It was the third time that Justice Bartley has had to suspend the trial because of Mr. Marshall’s illness. Several weeks ago, Mr. Marshall had a minor stroke, delaying the trial for two days. There was no testimony on Tuesday because he was recovering from an undisclosed illness. Mr. Marshall also suffered a concussion and bruises on his arms and legs after falling off his treadmill last month, but those injuries did not delay the trial. Mr. Marshall has a history of medical problems, any of which could have contributed to his fall on Wednesday, Mr. Warner said. He had quadruple bypass surgery last fall, Mr. Warner said, adding that the trial, which began in March, started while he was not fully healed. “Instead of recuperating, he’s been on trial,” Mr. Warner said. Mr. Marshall and Francis X. Morrissey Jr., a lawyer who did estate planning for Mrs. Astor, are being tried on charges that they took advantage of Mrs. Astor’s Alzheimer’s disease to trick her into changing her will. Mr. Marshall has also been accused of stealing from his mother. The fall occurred during a break in testimony by Pearline Noble, who was Mrs. Astor’s nurse and considered an important witness for the prosecution. After Ms. Noble testified for about 45 minutes, Justice Bartley called for a brief recess. Mr. Marshall went into a men’s bathroom with Mr. Morrissey, 66, while Mrs. Marshall stood outside the door. A short time later, Mrs. Marshall and court officers were called in. Court officers stood outside the bathroom while a medical attendant working at the court went to check on Mr. Marshall. The attendant asked that paramedics be called, Mr. Warner said. About 10 minutes after two paramedics arrived, Mr. Marshall was rolled out on a stretcher, sitting upright with an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. He appeared alert. Mrs. Marshall walked out behind him, his cane in her hand and tears in her eyes. Mr. Marshall was taken to New York Downtown Hospital, where he was examined and released, said Mr. Warner, who declined to reveal the diagnosis. Mr. Marshall is expected to be in court on Thursday, Mr. Warner said. Mr. Marshall was already scheduled to undergo tests on Friday in connection with the undisclosed illness that kept him home on Tuesday. If his medical problems persist and cause longer delays in the trial, Justice Bartley may find himself facing the difficult decision of whether to grant a mistrial. The jury has already listened to almost 11 weeks of testimony. When the jurors were selected, the judge told them he expected the trial to last two to three months. Defense lawyers could make a motion to dismiss the charges in the interest of justice, and argue that the evidence against Mr. Marshall is not strong enough to warrant a trial, which could be affecting his health. The defense declined to comment on whether it would file such a motion. Mr. Marshall’s health problems came into focus on a day that Ms. Noble testified how physically frail Mrs. Astor was. From the time she was hired to work for Mrs. Astor in 2003, Ms. Noble said, she had to tend to her every need: brushing her teeth, combing her hair, bathing her, coaxing her to eat breakfast and cleaning her after she used the bathroom.
Hirsch/Pool
Anthony Marshall in the courtroom at Supreme Court in lower Manhattan for his trial.
Jurors ask judge for definition of 'intent to defraud' in 2nd day of deliberations in Astor case
BY MELISSA GRACE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, September 24th 2009, 4:00 AM
Deliberating jurors in the trial of Brooke Astor's son on Wednesday asked the judge for a legal definition of "intent to defraud" and to see nurses' notes detailing the socialite's final years.
The somber 12-member panel spent its second day considering evidence against Anthony Marshall, 85, and lawyer Francis Morrissey, 66.
The "intent" definition touched on a lesser count of falsifying business records.
Marshall is accused of misleading his mother's accountant by saying $757,000 he received as part of a $5 million gift from her should be billed to Astor's personal expense account to avoid a hefty tax.
The jurors wanted to know whether intent applied to the day he allegedly lied to the accountant or anytime after that.
Defense attorneys say the entry was a mistake.
The two men are charged with stealing $60 million from Astor - who died in 2007 at age 105 - by having her sign questionable updates to her will in 2004, years after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
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Hermann for News
Anthony Marshall, son of the late Brooke Astor, gazes at the empty jury box at Manhattan Supreme Court.
'Threatened' Astor juror's dismissal request would've meant mistrial, and 19 weeks of wasted time
BY MELISSA GRACE AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, October 6th 2009,
A female juror wanted off the Astor fraud trial because she felt "personally threatened" by another member of the panel, the judge said Tuesday.
The revelation came a day after Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Kirke Bartley denied the woman's request and told jurors to "hang in there" after the stressed-out panel seemed deadlocked on at least some of the charges.
"A juror feels personally threatened by comments made by another juror," Bartley said, citing a note he got from the frightened female.
"With regard to her personal safety, she wished to be dismissed anonymously."
Had that juror been deemed unable to serve, the judge would have been forced to declare a mistrial - and 19 weeks of testimony in the epic trial of Astor's son Anthony Marshall and his lawyer pal Francis Morrissey would be wasted.
The upset juror is believed to be No. 8, a 46-year-old in-house lawyer at the media company Bloomberg who appeared to cry Monday when Bartley urged the panel to "be as respectful of one another as one can possibly be."
Bartley also denied a mistrial motion from John Cuti, one of Marshall's lawyers, who said the judge failed to tell jurors it was lawful not to reach a verdict.
The judge said he'd make sure jurors know that is an option the next time they assemble in the courtroom.
The Astor jury is in its 10th day of deliberations in a tortured and tangled case that accuses Marshall and Morrissey of looting the late philanthropist's fortune.
The jury has repeatedly asked about a larceny count that accuses Marshall of giving himself a $1 million pay raise.
That charge alone carries 25 years in jail. Marshall, 85, and lawyer Francis Morrissey, 66, are charged with swindling Astor out of more than $60 million while she was addled by Alzheimer's. The beloved philanthropist died two years ago at age 105.
"Any verdict you return on any count, whether guilty or not guilty, must be unanimous," the judge said Monday, suggesting they may be stuck on just some of the 18 counts.
mgrace@nydailynews.com
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Harmann for News
Anthony Marshall, son of the late Brooke Astor, arrives at Manhattan Supreme Court Thursday to learn his fate.
Corkery/News
Marshall and lawyer pal, Francis Morrissey (below), were found guilty of defrauding his mother, Brooke Astor.
Brooke Astor trial verdict: Anthony Marshall, lawyer pal found guilty of defrauding famed socialite
BY MELISSA GRACE AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Friday, October 9th 2009,
Brooke Astor's last years were miserable, but at least she got to die in her own bed. Her son may not be so lucky.
Broadway producer Anthony Marshall was convicted Thursday of looting his mother's $185 million fortune - and faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 8.
The stoop-shouldered, white-haired Marshall, 85, looked stupefied as the verdict was read. Tears filled the eyes of his wife, Charlene.
"I love my husband!" Charlene Marshall yelled as she led Marshall out of the courtroom by the hand through a crush of photographers.
Marshall's 66-year-old lawyer buddy Francis Morrissey also faces up to seven years in prison for forging Astor's signature on one of the senile socialite's doctored wills.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Kirke Bartley allowed both men to remain free on bail until sentencing.
"The evidence in this case was overwhelming," Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Loewy said after the verdict.
Marshall "stole from his mother while she suffered from Alzheimer's disease ... making her life worse while enriching his own."
Loewy, who was barred from telling jurors Morrissey's law license was suspended for taking advantage of elderly clients, said she'll make that part of her pitch for giving him the max.
Marshall's lawyer, Frederic Hafetz, said he was "stunned" at the verdict and will appeal.
"I thought he was not guilty," he said. Asked how Marshall, who had serious heart problems, was doing, Hafetz answered, "Not great."
The case against Marshall was sparked by elder abuse accusations brought by his son, Philip, who accused his dad of forcing Astor to live in squalor.
In a statement, the Rhode Island college professor took no delight in his father's fall. He said he hoped the verdict would bring "consolation and closure" to the Astor friends who were shut out - and the loyal staffers who were axed - by Anthony and Charlene Marshall.
Marshall faces another legal battle.
Philip and close Astor friend Annette de la Renta are pushing a civil case to have the courts recognize the 1997 will signed by the millionaire socialite.
If that happens, Anthony Marshall's inheritance will be cut further, said de la Renta's lawyer, Paul Saunders.
The case was put on hold while prosecutors pursued criminal charges. It resumes with a Nov. 4 hearing in Surrogate's Court.
Saunders said Thursday's verdict is key to that case.
"The issue in Surrogate's Court is very similar ... was Mrs. Astor competent when she signed the wills and codicils? A jury in New York clearly said no, and that is significant."
Regarding de la Renta's testimony, Saunders said, "She's a very private person, and she did it out of respect for her closest friend in the world."
He described de la Renta as "delighted" about the verdict.
Juror Philip Bump, writing on his blog, described deliberations after the six-month trial as "enormously stressful."
"It was long. It was fascinating; it was tedious. For an auto-didact, it was like a seminar course in forty different subjects. I'm happy it's over. But tomorrow, I'll miss it."
He made no comment on the verdict. The guilty verdict was a stunning conclusion to an epic trial that stripped the veneer off one of New York's best-known blue-blood clans - and revealed dirty family secrets that would have mortified Astor, a beloved philanthropist who died two years ago at age 105.
It also was the final blow to the reputation of Charlene Marshall, whom prosecutors cast as the unindicted villain of the Astor drama - a rapacious social climber whose greed drove Marshall to rip off his mother.
The eight-man, four-woman jury released its verdict shortly after Bartley primed the pump by announcing he would ask the panel to reveal any verdicts they had reached after 12 days of deliberation.
At 2:15 p.m., the jury convicted Marshall of all but two of the 16 counts he faced. Morrissey was convicted on five of six counts. There was a "no verdict" on one of them.
mgrace@nydailynews.com
With Jose Martinez and Kerry Wills
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Son of late socialite Brooke Astor found guilty of trying to steal mother's fortune
• Anthony Marshall looted heiress's $185m estate
• 85-year-old faces up to 25 years in jail after epic trial
Anthony Marshall, son of Brooke Astor, departs from New York state supreme court in Manhattan. Photograph: Chip East/Reuters
The 85-year-old son of the late legendary US socialite Brooke Astor has been found guilty of defrauding his mother out of her huge fortune in an epic trial that has thrown a spotlight on the abuse of elderly relatives.
Anthony Marshall was convicted on all but two of 16 counts, including first-degree grand larceny and scheming to defraud his mother, who died in 2007 aged 105.
After 11 days of debate, a jury in New York agreed with the prosecution that he took advantage of her after she developed Alzheimer's disease from 2000, forcing her to change her will without her conscious understanding, so as to appropriate for himself her $185m (£115m) fortune.
Marshall, a former US ambassador to Kenya and a prominent Broadway producer, was the child of Astor's first marriage to John Dryden Kuser, and the stepson of Charles Marshall (his mother's second husband, whose surname he adopted at the age of 18), and also of the millionaire Vincent Astor, his mother's third husband.
He now faces at least a year in jail, and possibly up to 25 years. He will remain free until 8 December when he will be sentenced, along with his co-defendant, Francis Morrissey, a lawyer in charge of Astor's estate planning who was convicted of five charges, including scheming to defraud, conspiracy and forgery.
After the verdict was delivered, Marshall's wife Charlene embraced him and said: "I love my husband."
Astor's third husband was the son of John Astor IV, heir to the Astor fortune which came from fur and opium who died in the sinking of the Titanic. The late David Astor, a member of the British branch of the family, was a long-standing editor and owner of the Observer.
In the course of an exhaustive trial, in which the defence risked incurring the displeasure of the jury by calling 72 witnesses over 17 weeks, filling 16,000 pages of testimony, the court learned of the strained relationship between Astor and her son and daughter-in-law.
Witnesses included the television presenter Barbara Walters and US former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who testified that as a result of Astor's mental degeneration she could not recognise Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the UN, at her 100th birthday party.
The case against Marshall arose out of the actions of his son, Philip Marshall, who protested against what he saw as his father's abuse of his grandmother. Philip moved to have his father removed as Astor's guardian, and Marshall was replaced in the role by Annette de la Renta, wife of the designer Oscar. After Astor died in August 2007, legal proceedings were initiated that culminated in the trial that ended yesterday.
The jury heard details about the ways in which Marshall had acted to get his hands on his mother's money. In one illustration, it was said that he used her funds to pay a $50,000 salary to the captain of his yacht.The jury was told that the vessel had cost $920,000, yet Marshall was unprepared to fork out the $2,000 needed to buy a safety gate to protect his mother from falling.
The most serious allegation was that he conspired with Morrissey to change Astor's will, despite the fact that she was not in her conscious mind as a result of Alzheimer's.
On one important count, however, he was found not guilty. It was alleged that he sold a painting by Childe Hassam which his mother had adored for $10m, keeping $2m commission.
Prosecutors said he tricked Astor into making the sale by telling her he was financially desperate, but the jury cleared him of the charge.
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Brooke Astor, 2002, at 100 years old.
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The Family Astor
The Brooke Astor scandal may be a tale of elder abuse. But it’s also just another sad chapter in the family’s history of parental estrangement
- By Meryl Gordon
- Published Aug 6, 2006
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Anthony Marshall and his wife, Charlene, live in a sunny apartment on East 79th Street, lushly decorated with a grand piano and a wall of books. Last fall, long before the accusations that Anthony was abusing his mother, philanthropist Brooke Astor, I interviewed the couple with the goal of writing about Astor, who was 103 at the time and reportedly in ill health.
In our phone conversation, Marshall had promised to discuss his mother, but he had changed his mind once I arrived. After serving iced tea, he announced, “I really don’t want to talk about my mother. She can’t talk for herself, so I don’t think I should talk for her. Maybe you should have your drink and go.” Instead, he offered an alternative. “I thought that maybe you wanted to talk to me about my life,” he said, “which I would be delighted to do.”
Yet over the next 40 minutes, Marshall proceeded to talk quite a bit about his mother—or at least talk around her, with a complex mixture of pique and pride. His dachshund Pichou lay at his feet. And his wife sat by his side, raising roadblocks whenever the conversation turned to her mother-in-law.
“I’ve had a very independent life,” Marshall began. He’s a courtly man with plummy upper-class diction. But even as he cited his accomplishments (enlisting in the Marine Corps and being wounded at Iwo Jima, a stint at the State Department, ambassadorships in Kenya and Trinidad, brokerage work and international consulting, writing seven books), all roads led to Brooke. Marshall said he put aside his own career back in 1979 to focus on managing her money. “I was very glad to do it, because once I got into it, I discovered that things were being mismanaged badly. Very badly.” He portrayed himself as a dutiful son, but he couldn’t resist a bit of upmanship: “I’m on the board of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. My mother was never on that.”
I noted that the Marshalls were not major players in Upper East Side society, and he replied, “You’re right. My mother loved people. I love people but on a different basis. My mother had”—he corrected himself—“has lots of friends, although a lot of them are dying off.” The Marshalls have become theatrical producers in recent years, in partnership with David Richenthal, backing the Tony Award–winning show I Am My Own Wife. When I remarked that the couple are not regulars in the New York Times society photos, Charlene snapped, “No. We’re not by choice.”
Marshall is the child of Brooke Astor’s first marriage, at age 17, to John Dryden Kuser, a wealthy New Jersey man she has described as an alcoholic, womanizing wife beater. After they divorced, she fell for stockbroker Charles “Buddie” Marshall, who left his family for her, and when they married, Marshall adopted Anthony. That act prompted Kuser to sue his own son to get back child-support money. Astor wrote about that court battle, which her son won: “I rather agreed with the judge —people who fight over money never seem to me to deserve to have any!” Eleven months after Buddie Marshall died in 1952, Brooke married Vincent Astor—a pairing arranged by Vincent’s wife, who had promised to find him a replacement before she divorced him.
As we spoke, Marshall, unprompted, began to reminisce about the one family member who gave him unconditional love: his maternal grandfather, Major General John Henry Russell. “My grandfather was the compass of my life. Still is, although he died in 1947. He was a wonderful person. I spent a lot of time with him. He wrote me a great deal, gave me very good advice,” said Marshall, who named his boat after his grandfather. “He never dictated, never said, ‘You must do this, you must do that.’ ”
I asked whether his mother and step fathers were similarly supportive. Charlene interrupted, saying, “You don’t want to get into that.” Marshall echoed her. “No, that’s too close.”
In the tabloids, the Astor saga has been framed as a tale of elder abuse, a legendary philanthropist deprived of proper care in her final years. And certainly it’s good to know that Brooke Astor—an iconic figure in New York society—will likely live her last days in comfort, surrounded by the fresh flowers she loves. But the story of the Astor lawsuit is also something simpler and sadder, a tale of parental neglect, repeated generations over. Brooke Astor is a magnificent benefactor and a legendary hostess, but she was, by her own account, a lousy mother. Marshall has little relationship with his own son Philip. For that matter, Vincent Astor, the one who left Brooke all the money, was neglected by his mother, Ava Astor—in one infamous story, he was left in a dressing-room closet to cry until a butler found him hours later.
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A few weeks before he filed the legal papers that rocked the Upper East Side, Brooke Astor’s grandson Philip Marshall went to lunch with a friend, Sam Adams. As the two ate pizza at the Feast or Famine restaurant in Warren, Rhode Island, Philip anguished about his decision to file suit against his father. “Philip is mild-mannered,” says Adams, the director of new media at East Bay Newspapers. “I’ve never heard him express animosity towards his father. But he saw something wrong, and he felt he couldn’t shirk from it.” Naïve as it appears now, Philip thought this would remain a family matter. “He thought it would be quiet,” Adams says, “that he would just solve the problem.”
Despite his fancy lineage, Philip, 53, a tenured professor of historic preservation at Roger Williams University, was never part of the upper crust, according to his friends. He had no trust fund. His parents divorced in 1960, and at the time he filed suit, Philip had not seen his father in two years and had last spoken to him one year back, to wish him happy birthday. But during occasional visits to his grandmother, he had befriended her staff, whose concerns ultimately jolted him into action—along with the knowledge that potential allies, including Annette de la Renta (Oscar’s wife), were also stepping in. (According to her friends, De la Renta confronted Anthony last summer and persuaded him to bring Brooke Astor to her beloved country house at Holly Hill, near Tarrytown.)
Philip’s twin brother, Alec, a photographer, wanted to stay neutral; a source close to the family says that Alec refused information about the suit from both sides.
The response to Philip’s action was explosive. After Philip filed the suit—backed by affidavits from Astor’s staff, Annette de la Renta, David Rockefeller, and Henry Kissinger—Judge John Stackhouse removed control of his grandmother’s care from his father, who has been paid $2.3 million a year to oversee her affairs, and named De la Renta temporary guardian. Astor was whisked first to Lenox Hill Hospital and then to Holly Hill. “Mrs. Astor improved dramatically at Lenox Hill,” says Fraser Seitel, a De la Renta spokesman. “She’s eating and seeing visitors and walking with help.” The Marshalls have been besieged, periodically issuing angry rebuttals. De la Renta has not talked to reporters, but she’s burning up the phone lines. “Annette just wants the best for Brooke,” says a society-page name who had just gotten off the phone with De la Renta. “She’s glad she got her to Holly Hill. Annette told me, ‘I hope Brooke slips away up at a place she adores.’ ”
Brooke Astor was always candid about the fact that she was not the motherly type. “Brooke was intellectually curious, socially gregarious, a huge reader, but one of the top ten roles in her life was not being a mother,” says one socialite friend. Another friend takes it a step further, saying, “It was not a good relationship. Brooke just basically didn’t like [Anthony]. He was pretty drippy. He was what I call a ‘manqué’—not quite made it.” But at the same time, many of her friends say that Marshall always seemed to be a conscientious son. After the Daily News revealed the details of the lawsuit, with its sordid allegations of Mrs. Astor’s sleeping in a ripped nightgown on a urine-soaked couch, her friends pointed the finger at Marshall’s twenty-years-younger third wife. As one longtime confidante of Mrs. Astor’s puts it, “Charlene is Lady Macbeth.”
The relationship between the two women did not begin well. Anthony was separated from his second wife when he met Charlene in Northeast Harbor, Maine, where Astor has a seven-acre estate; Charlene was married at the time to Paul Gilbert, the rector at St. Mary’s-by-the-Sea. According to one of Astor’s intimates, “Tony turned to Brooke and asked, ‘Who is that woman who walks by our house every morning?’ Brooke said, ‘That’s the minister’s wife.’ Tony said, ‘I think we should go to church.’ ”
Nan Lincoln, the arts editor of the Bar Harbor Times, recalls dinners at the rectory, where Charlene was a well-liked hostess, and the speculation that erupted when she left her husband: “Was she a gold digger, or was this a romantic love story—the poor stifled parson’s wife who finds the man of her dreams?”
Patricia Scull of Northeast Harbor, who is 88, used to invite Charlene and Paul over for Thanksgiving. “She had a hard time with the vicar, and she wanted to be rich,” says Scull. “She came from South Carolina, and she used to say, ‘My sister is married to the richest man in Charleston, and here I am, a poor minister’s wife.’ But she seemed like such a sweet girl. I keep thinking those three people—Kissinger and Rockefeller and the woman—wouldn’t have signed those affidavits unless they knew something. No one’s going to defend her here. She’s become the villain.”
A few weeks before he filed the legal papers that rocked the Upper East Side, Brooke Astor’s grandson Philip Marshall went to lunch with a friend, Sam Adams. As the two ate pizza at the Feast or Famine restaurant in Warren, Rhode Island, Philip anguished about his decision to file suit against his father. “Philip is mild-mannered,” says Adams, the director of new media at East Bay Newspapers. “I’ve never heard him express animosity towards his father. But he saw something wrong, and he felt he couldn’t shirk from it.” Naïve as it appears now, Philip thought this would remain a family matter. “He thought it would be quiet,” Adams says, “that he would just solve the problem.”
Despite his fancy lineage, Philip, 53, a tenured professor of historic preservation at Roger Williams University, was never part of the upper crust, according to his friends. He had no trust fund. His parents divorced in 1960, and at the time he filed suit, Philip had not seen his father in two years and had last spoken to him one year back, to wish him happy birthday. But during occasional visits to his grandmother, he had befriended her staff, whose concerns ultimately jolted him into action—along with the knowledge that potential allies, including Annette de la Renta (Oscar’s wife), were also stepping in. (According to her friends, De la Renta confronted Anthony last summer and persuaded him to bring Brooke Astor to her beloved country house at Holly Hill, near Tarrytown.)
Philip’s twin brother, Alec, a photographer, wanted to stay neutral; a source close to the family says that Alec refused information about the suit from both sides.
The response to Philip’s action was explosive. After Philip filed the suit—backed by affidavits from Astor’s staff, Annette de la Renta, David Rockefeller, and Henry Kissinger—Judge John Stackhouse removed control of his grandmother’s care from his father, who has been paid $2.3 million a year to oversee her affairs, and named De la Renta temporary guardian. Astor was whisked first to Lenox Hill Hospital and then to Holly Hill. “Mrs. Astor improved dramatically at Lenox Hill,” says Fraser Seitel, a De la Renta spokesman. “She’s eating and seeing visitors and walking with help.” The Marshalls have been besieged, periodically issuing angry rebuttals. De la Renta has not talked to reporters, but she’s burning up the phone lines. “Annette just wants the best for Brooke,” says a society-page name who had just gotten off the phone with De la Renta. “She’s glad she got her to Holly Hill. Annette told me, ‘I hope Brooke slips away up at a place she adores.’ ”
Brooke Astor was always candid about the fact that she was not the motherly type. “Brooke was intellectually curious, socially gregarious, a huge reader, but one of the top ten roles in her life was not being a mother,” says one socialite friend. Another friend takes it a step further, saying, “It was not a good relationship. Brooke just basically didn’t like [Anthony]. He was pretty drippy. He was what I call a ‘manqué’—not quite made it.” But at the same time, many of her friends say that Marshall always seemed to be a conscientious son. After the Daily News revealed the details of the lawsuit, with its sordid allegations of Mrs. Astor’s sleeping in a ripped nightgown on a urine-soaked couch, her friends pointed the finger at Marshall’s twenty-years-younger third wife. As one longtime confidante of Mrs. Astor’s puts it, “Charlene is Lady Macbeth.”
The relationship between the two women did not begin well. Anthony was separated from his second wife when he met Charlene in Northeast Harbor, Maine, where Astor has a seven-acre estate; Charlene was married at the time to Paul Gilbert, the rector at St. Mary’s-by-the-Sea. According to one of Astor’s intimates, “Tony turned to Brooke and asked, ‘Who is that woman who walks by our house every morning?’ Brooke said, ‘That’s the minister’s wife.’ Tony said, ‘I think we should go to church.’ ”
Nan Lincoln, the arts editor of the Bar Harbor Times, recalls dinners at the rectory, where Charlene was a well-liked hostess, and the speculation that erupted when she left her husband: “Was she a gold digger, or was this a romantic love story—the poor stifled parson’s wife who finds the man of her dreams?”
Patricia Scull of Northeast Harbor, who is 88, used to invite Charlene and Paul over for Thanksgiving. “She had a hard time with the vicar, and she wanted to be rich,” says Scull. “She came from South Carolina, and she used to say, ‘My sister is married to the richest man in Charleston, and here I am, a poor minister’s wife.’ But she seemed like such a sweet girl. I keep thinking those three people—Kissinger and Rockefeller and the woman—wouldn’t have signed those affidavits unless they knew something. No one’s going to defend her here. She’s become the villain.”
Lord William Astor is a British cousin by marriage who has been close to Brooke for decades, and when he called from a vacation in Scotland, he said he is now haunted by his visit to her roughly a year ago. “She didn’t recognize me to start with, but halfway through, she squeezed my hand and said, ‘I’m having a miserable time, please take me away.’ She had a lucid moment.” In recent years, she had complained to Lord Astor that Anthony wanted her to cut spending, so much so that Lord Astor quietly contacted her investment advisers for reassurance that her funds were intact (they were).
There is much speculation that Philip stands to benefit financially if improprieties are uncovered; he has told friends that he was promised a cottage at his grand mother’s estate in Northeast Harbor. In 2003, Brooke Astor signed over the property to Marshall—and six months later, Anthony deeded it to Charlene. Philip’s friends counter that by making these allegations, Philip has ensured that he will be cut out of his father’s will. And, in fact, the only people guaranteed to benefit are the lawyers.
After Vincent Astor died, leaving $60 million to his foundation and a roughly equal amount to Brooke after a five-year marriage, his younger half- brother, Jack, sued unsuccessfully for a share. Vincent’s nephew Ivan Obolensky, now 82, was not part of that lawsuit, but he still bears a grudge. “Vincent Astor would be so horrified by this. Poor Brooke, who took all the money and ran—she pushed him to change his will. He was drinking; he was lonely, poor man. I loved him,” says Obolensky, the chairman of the Soldiers and Sailors Home. “Brooke was one of the great adventuresses of her time. This is sad, but I’m laughing,” he says. “You reap what you sow.”
Brooke Astor—now resting at Holly Hill, waiting for the noise around her to quiet—might hope for a legacy greater than that. “As a child,” she wrote in Footprints. “I was made to feel that I should create an atmosphere of good will around me. It is certainly a better way to live than to have a chip on one’s shoulder or be continually looking for flaws in someone else’s character. The French say, ‘To know all is to forgive all.’ Well, one can never know all, and one cannot in one’s heart forgive everything; but one can appear to do so, and then eventually, one forgets.”
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/brooke_astor
Brooke Astor at a girlish 80, serving afternoon tea at Cove End, her summer home in Northeast Harbor, Maine.
Our Miss Brooke
New York’s favorite social doyenne, Brooke Astor, was a champion of style and manners. Ever the philanthropist, she shared her wisdom withVanity Fair’s readers in these delightful essays on politeness and flirtation. Plus: V.F.’s coverage of the unhappy allegations of elder abuse by her son that clouded her final days.
WEB EXCLUSIVE September 17, 2009
Mrs. Astor Regrets, by Brooke Astor (June 1999)
Seated between two bores at a dinner party? Getting an earful of office gossip? With all due humility, a lady of impeccable manners—please call her Mrs. Astor—suggests some rules to put the “polite” back into polite society.
Be Slow, My Heart, by Brooke Astor (February 2000)
Flirtation has become a lost art, swept aside by the giddy pace of modern life. Recalling the stolen kisses of her youth, the watchful chaperons, and the assignations in hotel tearooms, Brooke Astor argues that the most delightful romance is one that takes its time.
Saving Mrs. Astor, by Dominick Dunne (October 2006)
The shocking allegations that 104-year-old Brooke Astor, jeweled and generous doyenne of New York society, was suffering neglect at the hands of her son and daughter-in-law burned up the wires between Park Avenue, Southampton, and Northeast Harbor. But Dominick Dunne had heard and seen clues that something was amiss.
In Mrs. Astor’s Shadow, by Vicky Ward (December 2006)
Since Brooke Astor’s grandson, her powerful friends, and her longtime staff alleged that the 104-year-old philanthropist’s son, Anthony Marshall, and his wife, Charlene, were taking advantage of her failing health, a New York court has removed her from the Marshalls’ care. The embattled couple tell their side of the scandal.
The Battle for Mrs. Astor, by John Richardson (October 2008)
From being queen of New York society and one of her century’s great philanthropists, Brooke Astor became America’s most prominent case of alleged elder abuse. With her son, Anthony Marshall, expected to stand trial this winter on financial charges, John Richardson draws on years of friendship with the late doyenne, and accounts of those closest to her, to document the fear and confusion that marked Astor’s final years.
Society on Trial (June 2009)
In a lawsuit initiated by his son Philip, Anthony Marshall, the late Brooke Astor’s only child, was accused of trying to bilk his mother out of her famous fortune as she succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease in the last years of her life. The witnesses for the prosecution have been a Who’s Who of New York society, all captured by court sketch artist Jane Rosenberg.
The New Astor Court, by Meryl Gordon (September 2009)
As a parade of New York society leaders took the stand, the jury in the Brooke Astor trial heard jaw-dropping testimony about Astor’s relationship with her son, defendant Anthony Marshall, and his wife, Charlene. But the real pyrotechnics were offstage. While talking to key players, Meryl Gordon uncovers an Oedipal plot twist that recasts the dynamics of this epic courtroom drama.
Louis Lanzano / AP
Anthony Marshall leaves the courtroom at Manhattan State Supreme Court, on Thursday. The 85-year-old son of Brooke Astor was convicted by a jury of plundering the philanthropist's nearly $200 million fortune.
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Serge J-f. Levy / Serge J-F. Levy / AP file
Brooke Astor in
2007.
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Jury: Brooke Astor’s son guilty of looting estate
Panel reaches decision in its 11th day of deliberating on criminal charges
updated 3:46 p.m. ET Oct. 8, 2009
NEW YORK - Brooke Astor's 85-year-old son was convicted Thursday of exploiting his philanthropist mother's failing mind and helping himself to her nearly $200 million fortune.
Anthony Marshall now faces a mandatory jail sentence of at least one year — and perhaps as many as 25 years — after jurors delivered their verdict to end a five-month trial that revealed the New York society doyenne's sad decline. She was 105 and had Alzheimer's disease when she died in 2007.
The jury convicted Marshall of two serious counts, first-degree grand larceny and scheming to defraud, but acquitted him on some others. Jurors also convicted estate lawyer Francis X. Morrissey Jr., 66, of scheming to defraud Astor.
The trial had gone on longer than expected and the jury took 11 full days of deliberations before returning the verdict.
Free on bail until sentencing
Marshall, wearing a dark suit, looked at the jurors as they were polled. His co-defendant, Morrissey, looked down but didn't betray any emotion. They will remain free on bail until their Dec. 8 sentencing.
"I'm stunned by the verdict," said Marshall's attorney, Frederick Hafetz. "We are greatly disappointed in it, and we will definitely appeal."
The trial peeked into high society as prosecutors told a Dickensian tale of upper-crust money-grubbing, with a demented grande dame at its center.
Marshall was accused of a range of tactics — from scheming to inherit millions of dollars to simply stealing artwork off her walls. Morrissey was accused of helping manipulate Astor into changing her will to leave Marshall millions of dollars that had been destined for charity.
The case put Astor's famous friends, including Barbara Walters and Henry Kissinger, on the witness stand and her dark final years on display. Jurors heard how a beau monde benefactor renowned for her elegance and wit became a disoriented invalid fearful of her own shadow.
Prosecutors portrayed Marshall — a former U.S. ambassador and Tony Award-winning Broadway producer — as a greedy heir who couldn't wait for his mother to die, buying himself a $920,000 yacht with her money but refusing to get a $2,000 safety gate to keep her from falling.
Defense lawyers said Astor was lucid when she bequeathed the money to her only child and that he had legal power to give himself gifts while she was alive. She was keenly focused on her will, and she loved her son, they said.
Astor's last will, created Jan. 30, 2002, left millions of dollars to her favorite charities. Amendments in 2003 and 2004 gave Marshall most of her estate.
Trial delved into Astor's mental state
The trial delved into Astor's shadowy mental state, health problems, finances and family relations. Jurors got crash courses in topics ranging from estate planning to handwriting analysis, amid questions about whether the socialite's signature was forged on some will amendments.
Prosecutors called some 72 witnesses, from the socialite's prominent friends to an official at the company that made paper used in an amendment to her will.
Many of them testified about Astor's mental confusion in the last years of her life.
Walters described using a photo album to help Astor recall guests at her 100th birthday bash during a visit only months later. Kissinger testified that Astor didn't recognize former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a party she threw for him in 2002.
Astor's third husband, Vincent Astor, was the son of multimillionaire John Jacob Astor IV. She took charge of her husband's philanthropic work after his death in 1959. Her efforts won her a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1998.
Marshall is her son from a previous marriage to stockbroker Charles "Buddie" Marshall, who died in 1952.
The criminal case against Marshall and Morrissey came after one of Astor's grandsons asked a court to remove Marshall from handling her affairs.
Philip Marshall accused his father of abusing Astor by letting her live in squalor while he looted her fortune.
A civil case concerning her will has been on hold while prosecutors pursued the criminal charges.
Brooke Astor trial is a grim drama, straight out of a Shakespeare tragedy
JOANNA MOLLOY
Wednesday, May 20th 2009, 1:58 AM
Hermann for News
Anthony Marshall waits to reenter the courtroom Tuesday to hear what his kids have to say.
A voice rang out, "The People call Philip Marshall." As it did, Anthony Marshall's accuser - his son - entered stage right.
The elder Marshall won Tony Awards as a theater producer, and Tuesday's drama was pure Shakespeare.
Father and son faced each other as Philip, 56, told of the heartbreaking deterioration of his grandmother, philanthropist Brooke Astor, and how it affected a family that would never have won any Tonys for Most Functional.
Philip got his 84-year-old father in the suspect's chair in the first place, after Philip's outrage grew over how Astor was being neglected in the months before she died in 2007.
Anthony, her guardian, was blamed, and an investigation led to him being indicted for playing funny with Astor's money.
Philip has said he doesn't want his father to go to jail, but after his testimony Tuesday, I'd drive Anthony Marshall up to Sing Sing myself.
Philip's twin brother, Alec, took the witness stand just before him, and was shy, if not reluctant. A photographer, Alec showed his photo of a small gathering for Astor's 102nd birthday in 2004 in which Astor is looking into his lens.
In the group shot, both his father and his third wife, Charlene, are trying to get her to turn and look into the lens of society photographer Bill Cunningham. It ran in The New York Times as desired, but Astor, all dressed up but vacant, comes off like El Cid.
Philip wasn't hesitant at all. In fact, the Dalai Lama follower was at turns voluble, witty and charismatic as he lowered the boom on his father, who sat just 50 feet away. At one point, he even joked about Astor's 60-plus-acreWestchester estate Holly Hill, cracking, "Can the jury visit?" Perhaps his glibness is what caused Anthony to cry in the hallway during recess.
Philip described his shock over a 2006 visit to his grandmother, whom he called "Gagi."
"The apartment was no longer being maintained to my grandmother's standards," Philip said. "Windows were cracked. It was decidedly not as clean. It was very, very dirty."
At one point, he testified, he asked his father if there would be any inheritance for him - and he was summoned to a meeting with his father and stepmother.
"Charlene did most of the talking," he said. "She said my grandmother had only intended to give me and my brother $10,000, but that [Anthony Marshall] had gotten it up to $1 million." This, out of a pot of $185 million.
He said Astor had asked him if he wanted the waterfront cottage that was part of her Cove End estate in Maine. "My father called me and said it would be a burden," Philip testified. "He said I would have to pay maintenance and taxes."
It wasn't a burden when Anthony accepted it, and it wasn't a burden for Charlene when he gave it to her. That's when Philip smiled at his brother Alec, who grinned back. Alec testified earlier that Astor had offered him Holly Hill, but their father got that, too.
All this fighting brought back a line Brooke Astor wrote in a memoir about her husband, Vincent Astor, and his family.
"It was really quite sad, because all three of them needed each other," she wrote. "They wanted to be a family. But it was impossible for them."
It was Shakespeare, all right.
Too bad it was one of the tragedies.
jmolloy@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/20/2009-05-20_grim_drama_out_of_shakespeare.html#ixzz0TZUyyoIj
Lanzano/AP
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger arrives at Manhattan State Supreme court for testimony in the trial of Anthony Marshall.
Astor didn't recognize Kofi Annan at dinner party she hosted for him, testifies Henry Kissinger
BY MELISSA GRACE AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Thursday, May 21st 2009, 12:11 PM
Barbara Walters and Kofi Annan are two of the most famous people in the world, but Brooke Astor was so senile in her final years she no longer recognized either of her longtime friends.
By 2002, Astor's Alzheimer's was so bad that when she threw a dinner party for Annan - the former United Nations chief - she had to ask who the guest of honor was.
"Who is that black fellow who is sitting on the other side of me?" Astor asked. "Is he a distinguished man?"
That story was recounted by former Secretary of State Henry KissingerThursday at the fraud trial of Astor's son, Anthony Marshall.
"It was not an unfriendly comment about Kofi Annan," he said. "She seemed to just not know who he was."
Kissinger was followed on the stand by Walters, another longtime friend who testified that Astor was so far gone in December 2003 that she didn't recognize Walters.
"I said Brooke, it's Barbara," she said of their last meeting. "I couldn't understand what she said, it was garbled. It didn't make sense to me and I just knew she had no idea who I was."
When defense lawyer Frederick Hafetz asked if Astor was drunk, Walters bristled.
"It was someone who was incoherent, it was not someone who'd had too much to drink," she said.
Walters and Kissinger are the biggest bold faced names to testify against Marshall, who is accused of taking advantage of his mother's senility to plunder her $185 million fortune.
Marshall, 84, and co-defendant Francis Morrissey, 66, insist Astor was lucid when she updated her wills to reroute millions earmarked for charity to her son. She died two years ago at age 105.
Dapper in a dark suit, Kissinger took the stand a day after Astor's grandson,Philip Marshall, urged his dad to confess to robbing the beloved philanthropist - and end the lurid trial that is exposing the family's dirty secrets.
It was Philip Marshall's claims of elder abuse that led to the criminal charges against his father and Morrissey.
Walters, who was dressed in a black double-breasted blazer with a patent leather belt, said Astor rarely spoke of her only son and more than once mentioned she wanted to leave the bulk of her money to charity.
The TV personality said she noticed in 1999 - at a luncheon for Camilla Parker Bowles - that Astor was struggling to identify the people she'd invited into her home.
"The fact that she didn't know who some of the guests were was unusual," she said.
Walters said Astor didn't like Marshall's wife, Charlene, and that she had no problem identifying her at her 100th birthday bash in 2002.
Prince Charles had sent Astor roses and Astor "made a terrible face" when Charlene Marshall handed them to her.
"Even though she liked getting the flowers, she didn't like having her give them to her," Walters said.
When Walters finished testifying and walked out of the courthouse she smiled at the Marshalls.
They did not return her smile.
mgrace@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/21/2009-05-21_astor_didnt_recognize_kofi_annan_at_dinner_party_she_hosted_testifies_henry_kiss.html#ixzz0TZU7koOX
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/21/2009-05-21_astor_didnt_recognize_kofi_annan_at_dinner_party_she_hosted_testifies_henry_kiss.html#ixzz0TZTlurPu
   
A young trailblazing Barbara Walters
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://ehandersonpr.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/young-barbara-walters.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ehandersonpr.wordpress.com/&usg=__ez5obr0ktq5OF1-SvY_0hmtw53c=&h=512&w=335&sz=36&hl=en&start=11&sig2=tHLIW6a1iP
August 7, 2009 by Elizabeth Anderson
This summer I am reading Barbara Walter’s 600+ page memoir, Barbara Walters Auditionand I like it. First, I’ve always admired her. Okay, when I was young I wanted to be Barbara Walters, and for a little while I felt like I was. In her book, Barbara reminds us that she paved the way for us females to work in news and make good money while doing it. I am only half way through, and find it sad she was worried about losing her job, even after signing a five year, five million dollar deal with ABC. Sure, it was extraordinary for a woman to be making that amount of money in this field. But her feelings of job insecurity went deeper than that. It went back to her childhood when her father had a few ups but more downs in his career as the producer of stage shows, Latin Quarter Night Club. His successes created lavish lifestyles, albeit temporary, for Barbara’s family; his failures caused the family to move many, many times sometimes, as I read it, into less than desirable situations. Her mom constantly worried about Mr. Walters’ ability to support their family, communicated her fears to Barbara, which in turn made Barbara a worrywart about many things. Worried about losing her job? Barbara Walters? Apparently very much so. She had more responsibility than the average woman during the 1960’s and 70’s. She was a single mother during some of this time, and she was supporting her mother, father and sister. Her sister, by the way, had a form of mental retardation, which created additional stress for Barbara and her mother. Reading her describe the contract negotiations with NBC and the networks’ “lies”; her mistake of not releasing her own press release about her deal with ABC; her workload at ABC; facing ABC’s local station management about extending the evening news to an hour. Yikes. The media coverage about Barbara’s “Million Dollar Deal” was worldwide, and her news co-host, Harry Reasoner, what was up with that man? Then her send-off, rather lack of send-off, from NBC who could have thrown a party or given her a watch in her honor to celebrate her 13 years at NBC, from behind the scenes guest booker/question developer to co-hosting the “Today” show. She contrasts the send-off NBC gave her to Katie Couric’s, when Katie left “Today” to anchor the CBS Evening News. Whew. Depressing to say the least. Makes me curious why NBC treated her that way, which I hope to find out as I continue this interesting read.
Tags: Barbara Walters, memoir, news, television
Posted in Television News | Leave a Comment »
Walters Audition – A Good Summer Read
Jane Rosenberg
Barbara Walters testifying in court. She is questioned by Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Loewy (l.) before Judge A. Kirke Bartley
JOANNA MOLLOY
Friday, May 22nd 2009, 2:26 AM
Hermann for News
Barbara Walters arrives at court to testify against Anthony Marshall, son of the late Brooke Astor.
"I like it better the other way," the famous TV interviewer told reporters outside criminal court, where she testified in the trial of Anthony Marshall about Brooke Astor, her friend and his mother.
"In fact, I don't even like this!" she said as she tried to grab a reporter's pen and notebook.
Looking trim and radiant in a vintage black Bill Blass suit with a fabric flower on the lapel, Walters took the stand and the enamored jurors settled in as if her Oscar special was about to begin.
With justice at work, Walters revealed that her middle name is "Jill," and that she started her career as a receptionist.
Courtroom observers noted that Walters was the only witness the gentle prosecutor Elizabeth Loewy gave a pass to on the age question.
She's pushing 80, but hey, age is just a number, right.
Maybe Loewy's courtesy prompted defense lawyer Thomas Puccio to quip, "What did you do, invite her on 'The View' next week?" Walters was not amused.
The TV legend had jurors chuckling as she told of a lunch she'd had with Astor at Swifty's, the socialite cafeteria. "Brooke said, 'I don't want to come here again. There are no men.'" Astor was in her 90s at the time.
Then Walters remembered an incident at Astor's 100th birthday party in 2002 involving Marshall's wife, Charlene. Many witnesses have attested to Astor's dislike of her daughter-in-law.
Prince Charles "sent flowers and Mrs. Marshall brought the roses over and presented them to Mrs. Astor," Walters said. "Mrs. Astor made a terrible face. It stayed in my mind."
Like Henry Kissinger, who took the stand before her, Walters admitted she and Astor loved to gossip, and she tossed out this morsel about the dinner party Astor hosted at her apartment for Camilla Parker Bowles.
"It was shortly after it became known what her relationship with Prince Charles was," Walters said. "Prince Charles' private secretary and his public relations man ... said Prince Charles was concerned about Camilla's reception in New York because there was so much affection for Princess Diana here."
What was needed was "someone of stature" to host a function for Parker Bowles. Who better than Brooke Astor, the unofficial queen of New York?
It was there she began to worry about her formerly "vibrant, charming" pal, when Astor had no idea who Catherine Zeta-Jones was.
Hey, maybe she never saw "The Haunting."
It shook her, Walters said, as did a final visit with Astor in 2003. "She did not recognize me."
The dates are important in determing if Astor knew what she was doing when she changed her will in 2004 to give Marshall an extra $60 million.
If you believe Walters, it's hard to imagine that Astor had a clue.
Walters nearly teared up talking about a picture of her and Astor taken at their last meeting.
"I hadn't seen it before," she said. "It was affecting and upsetting. She was my friend for so many years."
jmolloy@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/22/2009-05-22_at_astor_trial_the_jury_was_awestruck_but_barbara_walters_was_annoyed.html#ixzz0TZShZuS0
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Fired lawyer to blast Anthony Marshall as Astor fraud trial resumes
BY MELISSA GRACE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, May 26th 2009, 12:59 AM
After weeks of celebrity testimony about how Brooke Astor had lost her mind, prosecutors will cut to the chase in her son's fraud trial Tuesday with a lawyer who says he was fired because he balked at changing her will.
Prosecutors contend Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, abruptly fired Henry Christensen as Astor's estate lawyer in early 2004 so Marshall could change her will to make himself $60 million richer.
The late changes were made when the beloved philanthropist - then 102 - was no longer competent, prosecutors say, and four years after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Prosecutors used Astor's glitzy friends, including TV personality Barbara Walters and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, to set up their theory she was senile.
Christensen's testimony will delve into how authorities say Marshall and co-defendant Francis Morrissey looted her $185million fortune.
Christensen, who began working for Astor in the early 1990s, will offer insight into what Astor wished to do with her money.
Christensen drew up Astor's 2002 will and a first update in December 2003, which he pointedly labeled the "first and final" change. It hiked Marshall's annual income.
Prosecutors say the lawyer balked atmore changes, including a January 2004 update that gave Marshall $60million, on the ground that Astor was too old and infirm.
While Christensen, 64, will help their case, prosecutors will have to walk a tightrope with him because the first change was made just weeks before the second.
Marshall's lawyers claim it wouldn't have been possible for Astor to be competent in late December and incompetent in late January.
In opening arguments, Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Loewy admitted Christensen acted improperly.
Instead of dropping one lucrative client to clear up a conflict of interest, Christensen represented both Astor and her son in the years before she died at age 105 in 2007.
"Henry Christensen failed to protect Brooke Astor's interests," Loewy told the jury. "Instead, he gave in to defendant Marshall's demands."
For their part, defense lawyers accuse prosecutors of "trashing" their own witness and being willing to throw Christensen "under the bus" to make their case.
Christensen, who lives in Brooklyn, is not charged with a crime.
Prosecutors also will call trust and estates lawyer Warren Whitaker to the stand. Marshall and Morrissey hired him to draft updates to Astor's will to redirect cash their way.
Prosecutors say Whitaker never met or spoke with Astor to ensure the amendments he drafted were what she wanted.
Defense lawyers contend that Astor, who repeatedly changed her will, knew what she was doing.
mgrace@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/26/2009-05-26_fired_lawyer_to_blast_tony_hell_testify_brookes_son_demanded_changes_to_will.html#ixzz0TZRYpPVD
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Apartment of the late Brooke Astor.
It's got five bedrooms, stunning Central Park views, and a pedigree like no other in New York.
But even with $17 million shaved off the asking price, Brooke Astor's sprawling Park Ave. pad hasn't been able to attract a buyer.
Now selling for $29 million, it's become an albatross for Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, who began trying to unload the apartment shortly after his mother died in 2007 - and is currently on trial for allegedly swindling Astor out of millions.
"They're having a hard time selling this place because there's a glut of trophy apartments on the market," said author Michael Gross, a gadfly of New York's upper crust whose latest scathing book is "Rogues' Gallery," a history of the Met. "Most smart sellers have taken their properties off the market and are waiting. I would imagine that Tony Marshall has some pretty serious legal fees to pay and maybe he can't wait."
When Marshall first put the 15th and 16th floor duplex on the market in May 2008, he was seeking $46 million for a spread that had 14 rooms, five fireplaces, six terraces, and a 30-foot-long gallery. And the co-op building wanted 100% down. Marshall didn't mention his mother in the listing, but real estate agent Leighton Candler of the Corcoran Group told the New York Observer they were getting discreet inquiries from "wonderful New York families."
Six months later, the real estate market was melting down and Marshall had dropped his asking price to $34 million. "To get it sold quickly, they had to make it a bargain," Kirk Henckels of Stribling & Associates told The New York Times at the time. "It was a very smart move."
Maybe for Henckels. Two months later, Stribling took over the listing from The Corcoran Group and chopped another $5 million off the price.
Astor's name is front and center in their listing, which calls the apartment "an eloquent representation of her distinguished life" and demands 20% down. "The red lacquer and brass trimmed library was designed by Albert Hadleyand is possibly the most photographed room on Park Avenue," the ad boasts.
Before Astor died in 2007 at age 105, her grandson filed a shocking suit claiming that his grandmother was living in squalor and languishing on a urine-soaked couch. There were furthur revelations in court last week that Astor's apartment was a pig sty and she was living among piles of dog droppings.
Astor's apartment has been scoured from top to bottom and the furniture in the photographs is long gone, sources said.
Reached by phone, Henckels declined to discuss if the revolting revelations might make it harder to sell the duplex. "I can make no comment," he said.
csiemaszko@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/real_estate/2009/05/26/2009-05-26_astors_ghost_brookes_son_is_so_hellbent_to_sell_he_cut_apt_price_17m.html#ixzz0TZQbZCL7
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As the trial of Brooke Astor's son goes forward, photos of the late wealthy socialite's home were introduced by the prosectors.
- Hide quoted text -
Brooke Astor's son Anthony Marshall wanted to know what he would inherit - but Brooke wasn't telling
BY MELISSA GRACE AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Tuesday, May 26th 2009, 5:37 PM
Brooke Astor's nosy son wanted to know what his mother was leaving him - but she wouldn't tell.
"Mr. Marshall was curious about the terms of her will," former Astor lawyerHenry Christensen testified yesterday at the trial of the socialite's son, Anthony Marshall.
"She giggled and thought the two of us would just keep it to ourselves....She said, 'It's our business.'"
Christensen, who worked for Astor from 1991 until Marshall fired him in 2004, said from time to time she would give her son a hint. But even in 2002 and 2003, "She and I still met one-on-one," he testified.
Prosecutors contend Marshall canned Christensen to get his hands on Astor's $185 million fortune - a charge Marshall denies.
To buttress their claim that Marshall took advantage of his mother's senility, prosecutors introduced several documents that showed how Astor's signature deteriorated as her Alzheimer's progressed.
Among the documents was a 1992 letter in which Astor detailed how she wanted "a real Episcopal service" and included a poem that she wrote and wanted read.
It began:
"When I go from here, I want to leave behind me the world richer for the experience of me."
Astor said she "assembled these thoughts" while she was at her Mainevacation home "watching Tony play croquet."
Astor died in 2007 at age 105.
Christensen drew up Astor's 2002 will and a first update in December 2003, which gave Marshall the power to direct $30 million from the Vincent Astor Fund to charities of his choice.
Prosecutors say Christensen balked at making more changes that Marshall demanded, including a January 2004 update that gave Astor's son $60 million outright - money that had been earmarked for charity.
Marshall's lawyers will argue today it wouldn't have been possible for Astor to be competent in late December and incompetent in January.
Earlier, Astor's physical therapist said Marshall rarely kissed his mother. "Their relationship seemed distant and cool, but respectful," Sandra Foschi said.
By contrast, Astor had a "very warm relationship" with grandson Philip Marshall, Foschi said. Philip Marshall's accusations of elder abuse led to fraud charges against Marshall, 84, and lawyer Francis Morrissey, 66.
mgrace@nydailynews.com
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anthony Dryden Marshall
Anthony Dryden Marshall (born Anthony Dryden Kuser, New York May 30, 1924) is an American theatrical producer who is a former U.S. Marine, C.I.A. intelligence officer, and ambassador. He also is the former vice president of the Vincent Astor Foundation, which was established by his stepfather, Vincent Astor.
Early life
Known as Tony, Marshall is the only child of the American philanthropist Brooke Astor and her first husband, New Jersey state senator John Dryden Kuser.[1]Marshall was the stepson of Charles H. Marshall (his mother's second husband, whose surname he adopted at the age of 18), and also of the American millionaireVincent Astor (his mother's third husband).[2]
By his father's second marriage, he has a half-sister, Suzanne Dryden Kuser (born November 24, 1931), who served with the U.S. Department of State, was an intelligence officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, and has been a consultant to the National Security Agency.
He also had two stepsiblings, Peter Marshall and Helen Huntington Marshall (born April 6, 1918), wife of the composer Ernest Schelling and later of the cellist János Scholz
Education and career
Marshall attended Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts. After enlisting in 1942, he served with the U.S. Marine Corps and participated in the battle ofIwo Jima, eventually attaining the rank of lieutenant. After the end of the war, he enrolled in Brown University.
Marshall was the U.S. consul in Istanbul (1958-59); then, in the Nixon administration, the U.S. ambassador to the Malagasy Republic (1969-71); to Trinidad and Tobago (1972-74) and briefly to Kenya (1973); and in the Ford administration, to the Seychelles (1976). He was also an assistant to Richard M. Bissell Jr. during the development of the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft.
In the 1980s, he was an officer with United States Trust Company of New York, where he assisted the bank with the management of large estate accounts.
Theatrical productions
Anthony Marshall's first production was the Tony nominated Alice in Wonderland which he produced with Sabra Jones and WNET13. With his wife, Charlene Marshall, he produced Long Day's Journey into Night (2003), and I Am My Own Wife (Tony Award, 2004). They formed Delphi Productions in 2003 with producerDavid Richenthal.
Marriages and children
Marshall has been married three times:
- His first wife was Elizabeth Cynthia Cryan, whom he married on July 26, 1947 in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.[3] The groom's stepfather, Charles Marshall, was his best man.[4] The couple had twin sons (born May 14, 1953), Alexander R. Marshall, a photographer, and Philip Cryan Marshall, a professor of architectural preservation at Roger Williams University.
- His second wife was Thelma Hoegnell (born May 11, 1928), whom he married on December 29, 1962.[5] The couple were divorced on January 24, 1990, reportedly following Marshall's alleged affair with Charlene Gilbert, the wife of an Episcopal priest in Northeast Harbor, Maine.[6]
- His third and present wife, whom he married in 1992, is the former Charlene T. Gilbert (born July 28, 1945), the first wife of the Rev. Paul E. Gilbert. By this marriage, he has a stepson, Robert Gilbert, and two stepdaughters, Arden Azile Delacey, who is the music director at the Cathedral School of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine,[7] and Inness Louise Hancock, an artist.[8][9]"
Elder abuse allegations
In July 2006, Philip Marshall filed suit against his father, alleging mistreatment of his grandmother Brooke Astor and mismanagement of her funds. He requested that Anthony Marshall be dismissed as her guardian and replaced by family friend Annette de la Renta. That request was granted temporarily, pending a court hearing on August 8, 2006.
On August 1, 2006, The New York Times reported that Anthony Marshall was accused by Alice Perdue, who was employed in his mother's business office, of diverting nearly $1 million from his ailing mother's personal checking accounts into theatrical productions. Marshall, through a spokesman, said that Brooke Astor knew of the investments and approved of them. Perdue countered that Marshall had advised her never to send to his mother any documents of a financial nature because "she didn't understand it."
On September 7, 2006, an article in the Times revealed that "J. P. Morgan Chase, the court-appointed temporary guardian of Brooke Astor’s assets, says in court papers that it is investigating whether her son improperly obtained about $14 million in cash, property and stocks from his ailing mother while managing her finances. The filing suggested that the bank might pursue litigation against the son, Anthony D. Marshall, to get some of the money and property back." The article further suggested that Brooke Astor's mental competency might be an issue, which put the transfer to her son of her estate in Maine as well as $3.4 million in securities into question. According to a statement in the affidavit that was presented to the New York Supreme Court by J. P. Morgan Chase, “We understand that Mrs. Astor’s signature may appear on certain documents relating to these gifts, but questions have been raised as to Mrs. Astor’s competence at this point in time to participate in such transactions and therefore the extent to which Mr. Marshall alone implemented these transactions."[10]
On December 5, 2006, an independent court evaluator released a report stating that the specific claims of elder abuse were not proved. In the report, the court evaluator identified numerous financial dealings that were suspect. As of December 2006, at least some of these appear to be under investigation by theManhattan District Attorney's office. It was reported that Marshall was ordered to return to his mother's estate $11 million in assets, which included art, jewelry and money. He also agreed in the settlement to "cede any claims to his mother's medical treatment or finances."[11][12]
Following Brooke Astor's death, questions were expected to arise over changes made to her will in 2003 and 2004 that transferred beneficiaries from some of Astor's favorite institutions, like the Metropolitan Museum and the New York Zoological Society, to the Anthony Marshall Fund.[13]
Trial
On November 27, 2007, Marshall surrendered to authorities at the Manhattan district attorney's office to face indictment on sixteen counts relating to the handling of Brooke Astor's will and financial affairs.[14] The charges include conspiracy, grand larceny and possession of
stolen property. Astor's lawyer Francis X. Morrissey, who is a longtime friend of her son, was also charged with six counts including conspiracy, forgery and possession of a forged instrument.[14]
At a press conference following Marshall's arrest, Manhattan district attorney Robert M. Morgenthau stated that "Marshall and Morrissey
took advantage of Mrs. Astor’s diminished mental capacity in a scheme to defraud her and others out of millions of dollars." He further said
that "Marshall abused his power of attorney and convinced Mrs. Astor to sell property by falsely telling her that she was running out of money. He is charged with stealing money from her as well as stealing valuable art work from her Park Avenue apartment."[15]
The trial of Marshall and Morrissey started March 30, 2009 (coincidentally his late mother's birthday) with the jury selection. The judge, Justice A. Kirke Bartley Jr., estimated that the trial could last up to three months[16]; instead, the defense rested and the case was sent to
the jury on September 22, 2009, nearly six months after it began. On October 8, 2009, Marshall was found guilty of one of two first-degree grand larceny charges, the most serious he faced, and a total of 14 of 16 charges.[17] Jurors convicted him of giving himself an unauthorized
raise of about $1 million for managing his mother’s finances.
References
- ^ GeneAll.net: John D. Kuser: lists children from his four marriages.
- ^ According to a former housekeeper of Brooke Astor's, in the 1960s, Marshall suggested changing his surname once again, this time to Astor, a claim which Marshall denies.
- ^ "Elizabeth Cryan Will Be Married: Student at Pembroke College Engaged to Anthony Dryden Marshall of Brown U.", The New York TImes, 8 April 1947, page 33
- ^ "Elizabeth C. Cryan Ex-Marine's Bride", The New York Times, 29 June 1947, page 46
- ^ The Political Graveyard: Marshall, Anthony Dryden".
- ^ Serge Kovaleski, "Mrs. Astor's Son Denies Neglect", The New York Times, 28 July 2006
- ^ "Weddings: Arden Gilbert, Brian Delacey", The New York Times, 2 Augsut 1998
- ^ Inness Hancock's web page
- ^ "Weddings: James Hancock 3d, Inness Gilbert", The New York Times, 3 October 1999
- ^ Serge F. Kovaleski, "Mrs. Astor's Son Is Accused of Mishandling Millions", 7 September 2006
- ^ Gregorian, Dareh, "Astor Son Is Cleared", New York Post, 5 December 2006
- ^ "Daily Intelligencer" It Happened This Week", New York Magazine, 8 December 2006
- ^ "Brooke Astor's funeral in New York". International Herald Tribune. August 15, 2007.
- ^ a b "[http://news.findlaw.com/nytimes/docs/brookeastor/nymrshll1107ind.html Indictment: N.Y. V. Anthony Marshall and Francis Morrissey]". FindLaw. 2007-11-11. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ Serge F. Kovalesky (November 27, 2007). "Astor’s Son Surrenders on Charges". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2007.
- ^ John Eligon (March 30, 2009). "Jury Selection Begins in Fraud Trial of Brooke Astor’s Son". The New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 200
External links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brooke Astor
Brooke Astor (March 30, 1902 – August 13, 2007) was an American philanthropist and socialite who was the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, which had been established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, son ofJohn Jacob Astor IV and great-great grandson of America's first multi-millionaire, John Jacob Astor. She was also a novelist and wrote two volumes of memoirs.
Early life
She was born Roberta Brooke Russell in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the only child of John Henry Russell, Jr. (1872-1947), the 16th Commandant of theMarine Corps and his wife, née Mabel Cecile Hornby Howard (1879-1967). Her paternal grandfather was John Henry Russell, a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy. She was named for her maternal grandmother, Roberta Traill Brooke MacGill Howard and was known as Bobby to close friends and family.
Due to her father's career, she spent much of her childhood living in China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and other places. Also, she briefly attended The Madeira School in 1919 but graduated from Holton-Arms.
Marriages
J. Dryden Kuser
She married her first husband, John Dryden Kuser (1897-1964), shortly after her seventeenth birthday, on April 26, 1919, in Washington, D.C. "I certainly wouldn't advise getting married that young to anyone," she said later in life. "At the age of sixteen, you're not jelled yet. The first thing you look at, you fall in love with."[1]
Her husband, the son of the financier and conservationist Col. Anthony Rudolph Kuser and grandson of U.S. Senator John F. Dryden, later became a New JerseyRepublican councilman, assemblyman, and state senator.[2]
"Worst years of my life"[1] was how Astor described her tumultuous first marriage, which was punctuated by her husband's alleged physical abuse, alcoholism andadultery. According to Frances Kiernan's 2007 biography of Brooke Astor, when Brooke was six months pregnant with the couple's only child, her husband broke her jaw during a marital fight.[3] "I learned about terrible manners from the family of my first husband," she told The New York Times. '"They didn't know how to treat people."[1] . A year after the marriage, according to a published account of the divorce proceedings, Dryden Kuser "began to embarrass her in social activities, ... told her that he no longer loved her and that their marriage was a failure."[4]
Astor had one child with Dryden Kuser, Anthony Dryden Kuser, born in 1924.
In June 1929, Kuser insisted that his wife leave him. After waiting for the successful end to his New Jersey senatorial campaign, she filed for divorce on February 15, 1930, in Reno, Nevada. It was finalized later that year.[4][5]
Charles H. Marshall
Her second husband, whom she married in 1932, was Charles Henry "Buddy" Marshall (1891-1952). Marshall was the senior partner of the investment firm Butler, Herrick & Marshall, a brother-in-law of the mercantile heir Marshall Field III, and a descendant of James Lenox, the founder of the Lenox Library.
Astor later wrote that the marriage was "a great love match."[1]
She had two stepchildren by the marriage, Peter Marshall and Helen Huntington Marshall.[6]
In 1942, Anthony Dryden Kuser, then 18 years old, changed his name to Anthony Dryden Marshall. It is unclear whether or not he was formally adopted by his stepfather.
Her husband's financial fortunes turned in the mid 1940s, at which time Brooke Marshall went to work for eight years as a features editor at House & Gardenmagazine. She also briefly worked for Ruby Ross Wood, a prominent New York interior decorator who, with her associate Billy Baldwin, decorated the Marshalls' apartment at 1 Gracie Square in New York City.[7]
Vincent Astor
In 1953, eleven months after Charles Marshall's death, she married her third and final husband, Vincent Astor (1891-1959), the chairman of the board of Newsweekmagazine and the last notably rich American member of the famous Astor family. The oldest son of Titanic victim John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912) and his first wife, Ava Lowle Willing, he had been married and divorced twice before and was known to have a difficult personality.
"He had a dreadful childhood, and as a result, had moments of deep melancholy," Astor recalled. "But I think I made him happy. That's what I set out to do. I'd literally dance with the dogs, sing and play the piano, and I would make him laugh, something no one had ever done before. Because of his money, Vincent was very suspicious of people. That's what I tried to cure him of."[1]
According to an oft-told story in society circles, Astor agreed to divorce his second wife, Minnie, only after she had found him a replacement spouse. After first suggesting Janet Newbold Ryan Stewart Bush, the newly divorced wife of James S. Bush, who turned down Astor's proposal with startling candor -- "I don't even like you," she reportedly said -- Minnie Astor suggested the recently widowed Brooke Marshall.[8] Whatever the circumstances, few people believed that the Astor-Marshall union was anything more than a financial transaction. As Brooke Astor's friend the novelist Louis Auchincloss said, “Of course she married Vincent for the money,” adding, “I wouldn’t respect her if she hadn’t. Only a twisted person would have married him for love.”[3]
During her brief marriage to Astor, whom she called "Captain," Astor participated in his real-estate and hotel empire and his philanthropic endeavors. Between 1954 and 1958, she redecorated one of his properties, the Hotel St. Regis, which had been built by his father.
Though she received several proposals after Astor's death, she chose not to remarry. "I'd have to marry a man of a suitable age and somebody who was a somebody, and that's not easy. Frankly, I think I'm unmarriageable now," Astor said in an interview in 1980, when she was 78. "I'm too used to having things my way. But I still enjoy a flirt now and then."[1]
Philanthropy
Though she was appointed a member of the board of the Astor Foundation soon after her marriage, upon Vincent Astor's death in 1959, she took charge of all the philanthropies to which he left his fortune. Despite liquidating the Vincent Astor Foundation in 1997, she continued to be active in charities and in New York's social life. The New York Public Library was always one of Astor's favorite charities. As a result of her charity work, Astor was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. Her life's motto summed up her prodigious generosity: “Money is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around.” [9][10]
Among numerous other organizations, she was involved with Lighthouse for the Blind, the Maternity Center Association, the Astor Home for emotionally disturbed children, the International Rescue Committee, the Fresh Air Fund, and the Women's Auxiliary Board of the Society of New York Hospital.
Elder abuse controversy
On July 26, 2006, the New York Daily News ran a front-page cover story on the family feud between Astor's son, Anthony Dryden Marshall, and her grandson Philip Cryan Marshall, regarding the welfare of the centenarian Astor, then 104 years old.
The story detailed how Astor's grandson, a historic preservationist and associate professor at Roger Williams University, had filed a lawsuit seeking the removal of his father as the socialite's guardian and the appointment of Annette de la Renta, the wife of designer Oscar de la Renta, instead.
According to accounts published in The New York Times and the New York Daily News, Astor was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and suffered from anemia, among other ailments. The lawsuit alleged that Marshall had not provided for his elderly mother and, instead, had allowed her to live in squalor and that he had cut back on necessary medication and doctor's visits, while enriching himself with income from her estate. Philip Marshall further charged that his father sold his grandmother's favorite Childe Hassam painting in 2002 without her knowledge and with no record as to the whereabouts of the funds received from the sale. In addition to Annette de la Renta, Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller provided affidavits supporting Philip Marshall's requests for a change in guardianship.
The day the story appeared, New York Supreme Court Justice John Stackhouse sealed the documents pertaining to the lawsuit and granted an order appointing Annette de la Renta guardian and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to be in charge of Astor's finances. Several news organizations including Associated Press and The New York Times sued to have the records of the Astor case unsealed in the public interest, and they were on September 1, 2006[11]. Astor was moved to Lenox Hill Hospital, where an unidentified nurse called her appearance "deplorable"; according to the New York Daily News, Anthony Marshall unsuccessfully attempted to have his mother transferred to another hospital.
Astor was released from Lenox Hill Hospital on July 29, 2006 and moved to Holly Hill, her 75-acre (300,000 m2) estate in the village of Briarcliff Manor, New York.
In 2008, a book, titled Mrs. Astor Regrets, by Meryl Gordon, makes use of diaries kept by the nurses who cared for Astor during the last years of her life. The diaries were compiled over the four years Astor received care, and detail the abuse that Mrs. Astor reportedly received from her son, Anthony (Tony).[12]
Estate tampering
On August 1, 2006, The New York Times reported that Anthony Marshall was accused by Alice Perdue, who was employed in his mother's business office, of diverting nearly $1 million from his ailing mother's personal checking accounts into theatrical productions. Marshall, through a spokesman, said that Astor knew of the investments and approved of them. Perdue countered that Marshall had advised her never to send to his mother any documents of a financial nature because "she didn't understand it."
The claims made by Phillip Marshall regarding his father's handling of the estate prompted interest into the matter. On November 27, 2007, indictments on criminal charges were announced against Astor's son, Anthony D. Marshall, and attorney Francis X. Morrissey Jr. The charges stemmed from the district attorney's office and subsequent grand jury investigation into the mishandling of Astor's money and a questionable signature on the third amendment to her 2002 will, made in March 2004.[13] That amendment called for Astor’s real estate to be sold and the proceeds added to her residuary estate. An earlier amendment, also made in 2004, which designated Marshall as the executor of his mother's estate and left him the entirety of the residuary estate, was also under investigation.[13]
The specific charges included grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, forgery, scheming to defraud, falsifying business records, offering a false instrument for filing, and conspiracy[14] in plundering her $198 million estate. The most severe charge, grand larceny, carries up to a 25 year sentence.[14]
The trial of Marshall and Morrissey started March 30, 2009, with the jury selection. The judge, Justice A. Kirke Bartley Jr., had originally indicated that the trial could last up to three months.[15] After deliberations that stretched over twelve days and were reportedly marked by bitter disagreements that left one female juror claiming to feel personally threatened, on October 8, 2009, the jury convicted Anthony D. Marshall of one of two charges of grand larceny, the most serious of a number of charges brought against him. The grand larceny conviction carries a mandatory prison sentence, meaning that Marshall could spend between 1 and 25 years in prison. Francis X. Morrissey Jr. was convicted of forgery. [16]
Death
Astor died on August 13, 2007 at the age of 105 from pneumonia at her home in Briarcliff Manor, New York.[9]
One of Astor's death notices in the Times, a paid notice from The Rockefeller University, ended with these lines:
-
- "And if you should survive to 105,
- Look at all you'll derive out of being alive.
- Then here is the best part,
- You'll have a head start,
- If you are among the very young at heart."[17]
Among the organizations who lamented her death included the New York Public Library, New York University, the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers, the New York Botanical Garden,NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, WNET-TV, Historic Hudson Valley, The Juilliard School, the New York Landmarks Conservatory, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, the Morris-Juemel Mansion Museum, the Citizens' Committee for New York City, the Rockefeller University, the Animal Medical Center, the Merchant's House Museum, the Library of America, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the Lotos Club, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House and the Brooklyn Stained Glass Conservation Center.
She is interred in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York. The epitaph on her gravestone, chosen by her, simply reads: "I had a wonderful life".[18]
External links
Bibliography
- Astor, Brooke (1962). Patchwork Child: Early Memories. New York: Random House. ISBN 0679426876.
- Astor, Brooke (1965). The Bluebird is at Home. New York: Random House. ISBN 0679426876.
- Astor, Brooke (1980). Footprints. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. ISBN 038514377X.
- Astor, Brooke (1986). The Last Blossom on the Plum Tree: A Period Piece. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312905459.
In fiction
Brooke Astor is portrayed as the heroine, Jane Merle, of the romantic comedy "Night and Silence: Who is Here?" by British novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson. [1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Klemesrud, Judy (1980-06-15). "Brooke Astor: The Private Moments of a Public Benefactor; Married at 16.". The New York Times.
- ^ In 1927, Astor and Dryden Kuser lived in a New York City townhouse which they rented from Madeleine Talmadge Astor Dick (nèe Force) (Mrs. William K. Dick), the stepmother of Astor's eventual third husband.
- ^ a b Schillinger, Liesl (2007-06-17). "Astor's Place". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-21. "The lady in question, who celebrated her 105th birthday on March 30 at Holly Hill, her Westchester estate, is worth knowing better, as Frances Kiernan’s guardedly admiring biography, “The Last Mrs. Astor,” proves. Until last summer, most people thought of Brooke Astor as the dapper, aged socialite whose face so often popped up in society photos in The New York Times. They also knew her as the widow of Vincent Astor (her third and final husband), and, through the Vincent Astor Foundation, a great benefactress of many New York cultural and charitable institutions."
- ^ a b "Mrs. Kuser Files Suit; Gets Custody of Son. Wife of New Jersey Senator in Reno Court Relinquishes Her Dower Rights.". The New York Times. February 16, 1930.
- ^ On September 6, 1930, in Virginia City, Nevada, Dryden Kuser married, as his second wife, Vieva Marie Fisher Banks (formerly Mrs. James Lenox Banks, Jr.). They had one daughter, Suzanne Dryden Kuser, and divorced in October 1935. A week later, Sen. Kuser married Louise Mattei Farry (formerly Mrs. Joseph Farry). In 1958, he married, as his fourth wife, Grace Egglesfield Gibbons (widow of John J. Gibbons). An amateur ornithologist and president of the New Jersey Audubon Society, Sen. Kuser introduced the bill that made the Eastern Goldfinch the state bird of New Jersey. He also was, at various times, an insurance and real estate broker in New Jersey (1937-1942) and Nevada (1942-1955), a vice president ofLenox, Inc., the pottery and china company, a columnist for the Nevada State Journal (1943-1947), and a director of the Fox Film Corporation.
- ^ Helen Marshall married firstly the composer Ernest Schelling (Gray, Christopher (1998-07-12). "Streetscapes: 863 Park Avenue; One of the Oldest Luxury Apartment Houses on Park". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-28.) and, secondly, the cellist János Scholz (Pace, Eric (1993-06-06). "Janos Scholz, 89, Cellist, Scholar And Morgan Library Benefactor". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-23.).
- ^ Astor's association with House & Garden has been established by a contemporary issue of the magazine, which shows "Mrs. Charles H. Marshall of Ruby Ross Wood, Inc." in the design firm's office. The gossip columnist Cindy Adams stated on July 28, 2006 that Astor was fired from her position at House & Garden and also worked briefly as a secretary to the American decorator Dorothy Draper.
- ^ www.newyorksocialdiary.com. Janet Newbold married (1) Allan A. Ryan Jr, (2) William Rhinelander Stewart, and (3) James S. Bush. Her third husband, to whom she was married from 1948 until 1952, was a brother of Senator Prescott S. Bush, an uncle of U.S. president George Herbert Walker Bush, and a great-uncle of U.S. president George W. Bush.
- ^ a b Berger, Marilyn (2007-08-13). "Brooke Astor, New York’s First Lady of Philanthropy, Dies at 105.". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-13. "Brooke Astor...died yesterday afternoon at her weekend estate, Holly Hill, in Briarcliff Manor, New York. She was 105."
- ^ "New York Day by Day. 2 Honors for Brooke Astor.". The New York Times: p. B3. 1985-05-02. "It was a big day for Brooke Astor yesterday. At lunch, she received the Frederick Law Olmsted Award for being wonderful to Central Park. At cocktails, she received the Governor's Arts Award for being wonderful to New York. The Olmsted Award, named after one of the architects of Central Park, is the annual excuse for about 700 New York movers, shakers and climbers to mingle in the park, which benefits from the lunch."
- ^ "Astor Painting Becomes Focus of Courtroom Battle" New York Times, Sep 1, 2006
- ^ The Daily Beast "The Baby Monitor Diaries." Mason, Christopher. Nov. 17,2008.
- ^ a b Kovaleski, Serge F. Son of Astor Is Said to Face Criminal Case. The New York Times. November 27, 2007. Access date: November 27, 2007.
- ^ a b Brooke Astor's son accused of plundering estate. MSNBC.com. November 27, 2007.
- ^ John Eligon (2009-03-30). "Jury Selection Begins in Fraud Trial of Brooke Astor’s Son". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
- ^ John Eligon (2009-10-08). "Brooke Astor’s Son Guilty in Scheme to Defraud Her". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ "ASTOR--Brooke". The New York Times: p. C15. 2007-08-16. Retrieved 2007-08-28 - these are, of course, nearly the same words as in the last stanza of the 1953-4 million-hit recording by Frank Sinatra.
- ^ Young, Peter (2007-08-13). "Brooke Astor, New York Society Doyenne, Benefactor, Dies at 105.". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
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