Word: astors
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...Astor was proud of the fact that she never gossiped. She was proud that she never had a face-lift. She was proud to have mastered the art of conversation and was able to communicate ideas without resorting to ad hominems. She was proud to be loyal to her friends from all walks of life. She valued not what people had, but who they were and what they could contribute. She treated everyone as unique and as important individuals - from the guards at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to those at the Library, to presidents, governors, senators, and industry titans...
...Monday, a chapter was closed in the social history of New York City: a great dame, the arbiter of New York society, died without leaving any successors. Brooke Astor, who passed away at age 105, was a combination of the Victorian age, with all its wit and elegance, and of the modern era, with its sharp-minded determination. She had taste, discernment, character, compassion, and was extraordinarily generous. She ran a great salon where the meek and the mighty met as equals. She had a profound respect for democracy and believed, as I do, that democracy and excellence...
...revival of the New York Public Library was in large measure due to the fact that it was Mrs. Astor who led the campaign to bring this iconic and invaluable institution back to its rightful place at the center of the city's life. Her contributions to this effort were, and remain, immeasurable, but to highlight just a few, it is important to note that it was she who recruited cosmetics mogul Richard B. Salomon and, later, former chairman of Time Inc. Andrew Heiskell to the cause. She also brought together New York high society, and helped to form...
...particular, I still remember a very touching scene when she visited one of the branch libraries and sat, entranced, next to a grandmother who was reading to her grandchild. When her foundation eventually exhausted its resources in support of institutions, programs and projects that benefited the public, Mrs. Astor celebrated that fact - and afterwards used her own personal fortune to keep on contributing to the city she so dearly loved. She believed that Astor wealth was made in New York City and therefore, should be reinvested in New York...
...Astor never neglected a guest - after all, her guests were people she had invited. She always remembered names. And her intellect was lively: even at the age of 100 she continued to write poems and articles. These were not ghostwritten pieces, but conceived and written by herself. She was also a great writer of letters and thank-you notes, which always appeared in your mailbox written in her own hand. When she had to send out numerous letters all at once, which had to be typewritten, she never failed to add her name and yours in her handwriting, with...