Dr. Radice's Statement on the Loss
of Brooke Astor
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Brooke Astor,
95, is seen at the Merchant's House Museum in New
York in May 1997. (AP Photo) |
WASHINGTON (August 15, 2007)–For
more than four decades, Brooke Astor served as one of
the nation’s most celebrated philanthropists and
friends to the museum and library communities. “Brooke
Astor was a believer that great art, history and literature
were not the sole possessions of a privileged class, but
gifts to be enjoyed by all people. She embraced humanity
and eschewed snobbery. Her generosity, energy, vision,
and decency will live on in the great public institutions
she supported for generations to come,” said Anne-Imelda
Radice, Ph.D., director of the Institute.
As the widow of real estate and fur-trading
heir Vincent Astor, Mrs. Astor was not content to rest
with her fortunes. As a writer, herself, famed bon vivant,
and great enthusiast of culture (most notably Chinese),
she devoted much of her life to running her late husband’s
eponymous foundation, and awarding nearly $200 million
in grants to New York’s most celebrated cultural
institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
the New York Zoological Society, and the New York Public
Library. Among her best known gifts is the Astor Court,
an authentic Chinese rock garden court within the walls
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among her last gifts
was a $25 million grant to the New York Public Library,
funding that continues to help improve public access to
collections and technology. In 1988, Mrs. Astor was awarded
the National Medal of Arts by President Reagan. Ten years
later, President Clinton awarded her the National Medal
of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
The Institute mourns her loss, but celebrates her life
and the enduring legacy she leaves.
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