[skysidhe]

One of city's most recognized ladies, Astor, 105, died Monday.


She hobnobbed with the Queen of England and showed up on the streets of drug-ravaged neighborhoods to donate her fortune. In the course of her rarefied existence, she gave away nearly $200 million.


Astor wrote four books: "Patchwork Child," a 1962 autobiography; "The Bluebird is at Home," 1965, a novel; the autobiographical "Footprints," 1980; and "The Last Blossom on the Plum Tree," 1986, a period novel.


I consider people like this to be lights of the world. Goodby good lady.