US:New York socialite Brooke Astor, a philanthropist whose generous gifts were a cornerstone for cultural institutions and charities across the city, died on Monday at the age of 105.
Mrs Astor died of pneumonia at Holly Hill, her estate in Briarcliff Manor, New York, said Kenneth E Warner, lawyer for her son Anthony Marshall.
Mrs Astor was married to Vincent Astor and, when he died, inherited part of a fortune made in fur trading and real estate by John Jacob Astor in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
She donated some $195 million to libraries, museums and charitable organisations. She was also a poised and elegant fixture for decades on the New York social scene.
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg called her "a quintessential New Yorker and one of the great philanthropists of our time. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers were the beneficiaries of Mrs Astor's goodwill and kind nature, many unaware of the origins of the donations".
Her son Marshall said her tombstone would be inscribed with words she had requested: "I had a wonderful life."
Her last years were marked with controversy when a court ordered her care be taken away from Marshall in October after he was accused by his son, Philip, of keeping her in squalid conditions. Marshall denied the accusations.
The family feud cast a shadow over one of New York's most renowned and wealthy families. Guardianship of Mrs Astor was given to her friend Annette de la Renta, the wife of designer Oscar de la Renta.