John Jacob Astor III John Jacob Astor III ( June 10 , 1822 — February 22 , 1890 ) was a financier , philanthropist , and the eldest son of William Backhouse Astor , Sr . ( son of John Jacob Astor and Sarah Todd ) and Margaret Rebecca Armstrong ( daughter of John Armstrong , Jr . and Alida Livingston ) . One of his uncles was John Jacob Astor , Jr . ( 1791 — 1869 ) . John Jacob III became the wealthiest member of the Astor family in his generation and the founder of the English branch of the Astor family . Biography . Astor studied at Columbia College and the University of Göttingen , following which he went to Harvard Law School . He practiced law for a year , to qualify for assisting in the management of his family ' s immense estate , one half of which later descended to him . It was based on his paternal grandfather ' s achieving a monopoly in the lucrative fur trade in the early nineteenth century . During the American Civil War , Astor he served as a volunteer aide - de - camp to General George B . McClellan . For his services during the Peninsular Campaign , he was brevetted brigadier general of U . S . Volunteers . He regarded this period as the best of his life ; he attended the reunions of the Loyal Legion with zeal . As a businessman , Astor dabbled in railroad investment , but was outsmarted by Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and forced to yield control of the original New York Central Railroad line ( from Albany to Buffalo ) to him . His principal business interest was the vast Astor Estate real estate holdings in New York City , which he managed profitably and parsimoniously . Marriage and family . In 1846 , Astor married Charlotte Augusta Gibbes ( February 27 , 1825 — December 12 , 1887 ) of South Carolina , daughter of Thomas Stanyarne Gibbes , Jr . and Susan Annette Vanden Heuvel . They had one son , Viscount William Waldorf Astor ( 1848 — 1919 ) . In 1859 he built a home at 350 Fifth Avenue , today the street address of the Empire State Building . Later , he had an imposing vacation home , " Beaulieu " , built in Newport , Rhode Island . Philanthropy . John Jacob Astor III donated objects and funds to the Metropolitan Museum of Art ( in 1887 he presented it with his wife ' s collection of valuable laces and left a bequest of $ 50 , 000 ) . He and his brother presented Trinity Church with a memorial to their father : a sculptured reredos and altar costing $ 80 , 000 . He left a bequest of $ 450 , 000 to the Astor Library , bringing the family benefactions to the institution to a total of about $ 1 , 500 , 000 . He also gave generously to the New York Cancer Hospital ( $ 100 , 000 bequest ) , the Woman ' s Hospital , St . Luke ' s Hospital ( $ 100 , 000 bequest ) and the Children ' s Aid Society . He took an active interest in the Astor Library beyond funding . He was treasurer of its board of trustees , and in 1879 deeded to it the three lots on which the northern wing of the present building was later constructed by him . He presented it with his collection of early books and rare manuscripts . His deeply religious wife Charlotte supported the newly formed Children ' s Aid Society and sat on the board of the Women ' s Hospital of New York , an institution that to her dismay refused to accept cancer patients . She persuaded her husband to donate the money ( $ 225 , 000 ) to erect the New York Cancer Hospital ' s first wing , the " Astor Pavilion . " For twenty years , she supported a German industrial school . From 1872 until her death , she was a manager of the Woman ' s Hospital , besides taking an active part in the Niobrara League to aid the Indians and in many other charities . She bequeathed $ 150 , 000 to charitable organizations . John Jacob III increasingly visited London in his later years . His son moved there permanently with his family in 1891 and became a citizen in 1899 where he was later made a peer . John Jacob Astor III died on February 22 , 1890 and was interred in the Trinity Church Cemetery in Manhattan .