to resuscitate the tabloid feeding frenzy , which has fostered headlines such as `` Bad heir day , '' `` Mrs. Astor 's disaster '' and `` DA 's kick in the Astor . '' It 's not the way those closest to Astor want to remember her . And the disclosures expected to spill forth from the witness stand are n't the type that Astor , who died in August 2007 at 105 , would want shared in public . `` She would have been mortified , '' said Vartan Gregorian , a longtime friend and president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York . `` She was very private . '' Through her late husband 's Vincent Astor Foundation , Astor was credited with giving New York , where the Astors made their fortune , about $ 200 million . And although she felt it was expected of her to be proper and elegant , Gregorian said , her wealth did n't define her . Talk of money , real estate and other people 's misfortunes were off-limits at her dinner parties , he said . `` She was not ostentatious . ... She was very funny ,
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- New Yorkers feasted on the stories when the news broke in 2006 : Brooke Astor , a socialite and megaphilanthropist with Alzheimer 's , had allegedly been swindled of millions and mistreated by her own son . Brooke Astor and grandson Philip Marshall outside her New York country estate , Holly Hill , in 2001 or 2002 . Anthony `` Tony '' Marshall , her only child , was indicted on criminal charges including grand larceny , possession of stolen property , forgery and conspiracy . Jury selection for the criminal trial was scheduled to begin Monday . But co-defendant Francis Morrissey 's attorney filed an 11th-hour motion to sever his client 's trial from Marshall 's . The motion was denied late Friday , and a new trial date has been set for March 2 . Morrissey , Marshall 's former lawyer , faces charges including forgery and scheming to defraud . A lawyer representing Marshall , Fred Hafetz , would say only that there would be `` no plea '' and that he hopes his client will `` be vindicated . '' Watch author Meryl Gordon discuss the case '' The trial is likely