Brooke Russell Astor, Honorary Chairman of The New York Public Library, Dies
New York, August 13, 2007 – Brooke Russell Astor, the Honorary Chairman of The New York Public Library whose brilliant and legendary career in philanthropy was one of the most inspiring in modern times, died Monday, August 13, 2007. She was 105 years old.
Catherine C. Marron, the Chairman of the Library’s Board of Trustees, said, “In addition to being its most important and beloved supporter, Brooke Astor was a luminous presence at the Library. Through her life’s work, she set a new standard in philanthropy, and the glorious rejuvenation of The New York Public Library is one of her greatest achievements.”
“Her love of books, learning, and great writing and her commitment to the neighborhoods of the City of New York enriched the Library in so many ways,” said the Library’s President, Paul LeClerc. “No one cared more deeply about our mission to reach and serve everyone - from the most advanced scholars to children just beginning to discover the world.”
All of Mrs. Astor’s philanthropy, as President of the Vincent Astor Foundation, was directed to the City of New York, and she was widely admired for the personal involvement that she brought to her work. She was especially devoted to The New York Public Library, whose history is closely associated with the Astor family, beginning with John Jacob Astor, who was instrumental in the founding of the Library in 1895. Beginning in 1946, the Vincent Astor Foundation and Mrs. Astor personally made gifts totaling $25 million to the Library. She served on the Library’s Board of Trustees since 1959 and as Honorary Chairman since 1974, seldom missing Library meetings and events until her very latest years.
Mrs. Astor played a dedicated and highly important role in the welfare and development of the Library, which was critical in triggering its rebirth in the 1980s and rescuing it from a severe fiscal crisis. The Astor Foundation’s gift of $10 million to the Library in 1985, the largest single gift it ever made, sparked a $300 million fundraising campaign, for which Mrs. Astor served as Honorary Chairman.
The amount of time that Mrs. Astor devoted to the library increased dramatically after the spring of 1983 when she decided to relinquish most of her other philanthropic concerns and concentrate on the Library’s needs and future. She made this decision after rereading George Orwell’s classic novel, 1984. A terrifying vision of a world with no access to books or freedom of thought, 1984 convinced her that no cause was more important than that of the Library. Her active, public efforts on the Library’s behalf led to establishing it as one of New York City’s most popular causes, and she helped give the Library a new status among New Yorkers. Toward this end, she chaired numerous fund-raising events, worked to attain grants from other major foundations, and urged other influential New Yorkers to join her in championing the Library’s cause. Former Library President Vartan Gregorian evaluated the impact of Brooke Astor’s decision in these words, “What Brooke’s gesture did was to show that learning, books, and education have glamour; that self-improvement has glamour; that hope has glamour.”
Mrs. Astor’s generosity had a tremendous and very direct impact on all of the Library’s work and the millions of people it serves, supporting its staff and ongoing operations, improving its facilities, and building and maintaining the collections of its great research centers as well as those of its neighborhood branches. Mrs. Astor’s spirited leadership and deep commitment to the Library’s mission helped guide the major undertakings of the Library over four decades and emboldened the Trustees and staff to rise to new challenges.
Selected Grants from the Vincent Astor Foundation and Brooke Russell Astor to The New York Public Library
1963. $500,000 for the conversion of the Arnold Constable department store on Fifth Avenue and 40th Street into the Mid-Manhattan Library, the largest circulating branch facility of The New York Public Library.
1972. $1 million to meet a National Endowment for the Humanities challenge grant in support of the general operating needs of The Research Libraries of The New York Public Library.
1975. $1 million to endow the operations of The Research Libraries.
1977. $5 million for capital improvement of the Library’s research collections, improvement of the building’s facilities, and work in the area of conservation and preservation - a challenge grant.
1982. $1 million to establish the Astor Fellowship, a research grant made on a rotating basis to professional staff members of the Library, a grant that also helped match a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
1985. $10 million, the largest single gift awarded by the Vincent Astor Foundation, with $7 million designated for the Library’s unrestricted endowment and $3 million for annual operations of The Research Libraries.
1997. $5 million, establishing the Vincent Astor Foundation Fund for The Branch Libraries of The New York Public Library, designated for the purchase of poetry and works of fiction for the branches.
Facilities and Activities at The New York Public Library Honoring the Memory of Brooke Russell Astor and the Astor Family
Astor Hall, the grand, main entrance of the Library’s flagship, Fifth Avenue facility, the Humanities and Social Sciences Library.
The Astor Fellowship, an annual, endowed research grant made on a rotating basis to professional staff members of the Library.
The Brooke Russell Astor Award, an endowed annual award for distinguished leadership and outstanding achievement in civic/community service, literature, culture, or education.
The Brooke Russell Astor Director for Special Collections, the endowed staff position responsible for rare books, manuscripts and archival materials at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library.
The Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room for Rare Books and Manuscripts, the special collections public service facility at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library.
The Brooke Russell Astor Staff Center, the facility that provides amenities for the staff of the Science, Industry and Business Library, at Madison Avenue and 34th Street.
The Vincent Astor Gallery, the exhibition space at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, at Lincoln Center Plaza.
About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. It comprises four research centers – The Humanities and Social Sciences Library; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the Science, Industry and Business Library – and 87 Branch Libraries in Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English as a second language. The New York Public Library serves over 16 million patrons who come through its doors annually and another 25 million users internationally, who access collections and services through its website, www.nypl.org.
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Contact: Gayle Snible 212.592.7700 | gsnible@nypl.org
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