Marriages
Astor was originally engaged to Eileen S.S. Gillespie, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Lewis Gillespie of New York City and Newport, Rhode Island in December 1933. However, she broke off the engagement two days before the wedding; reportedly, "She felt that he had grown up lonely ... He was a bit eccentric, and she felt he wasn’t mature enough to get married."
He married Ellen Tuck French at Trinity Church in Newport, Rhode Island on June 30, 1934. The couple was divorced in 1943; they had one child, William Astor.
Astor then married Gertrude Gretsch, daughter of Walter Gretsch, in New York City on September 18, 1944. The couple had a daughter, Mary Jacqueline (born 1949), but their marriage ended in divorce in 1954, though the Mexican divorce was ruled invalid in 1956. An American divorce soon followed. Gertrude Astor remarried, in 1961, to Sonio Coletti-Perucca.
He married a third time to Dolores Margaret Fullman (born 1929) on 6 August 1954 but they separated soon after returning from their honeymoon and divorced.
His fourth wife was Sue Sandford; she predeceased him, circa 1989.
John Jacob Astor VI had one son from the 1st, and one daughter from the 2nd marriage:
- William Astor (born 1935), married Charlotte Fisk. They had 2 children: William Backhouse Astor IV (born 1959) and G. Todd Astor (born 1966), who has three children: Alexandra Astor, Rebecca Astor and Stephen Astor. William Astor died on September 24, 2008.
- Jacqueline Astor (born 1949), married in 1984 to John R Drexel IV (born 1945) and they had one son, Nicholas.
Read more about this topic: John Jacob Astor VI
Famous quotes containing the word marriages:
“If common sense had been consulted, how many marriages would never have taken place; if uncommon or divine sense, how few marriages such as we witness would ever have taken place!”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Some marriages depend on domestic arguments the way the courts depend on litigation.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Women have entered the work force . . . partly to express their feelings of self-worth . . . partly because today many families would not survive without two incomes, partly because they are not at all sure their marriages will last. The day of the husband as permanent meal-ticket is over, a fact most women recognize, however they feel about “women’s liberation.””
—Robert Neelly Bellah (20th century)