of recent origin YORK -- Millionair...

of recent origin YORK -- Millionaire socialite Brooke Astor, whose well-being at age 104 is at the center of a legal battle between her son and grandson, has been admitted to a hospital, where her condition is improving, her doctor said.

Dr Sandra Gelbard, a specialist in internal medicine and critical care at Manhattan's Lenox Hill Hospital, told the Daily recents in Thursday's editions that Astor's "condition has improved, and we are hopeful that she is going to proceed home in the very near future"

Gelbard said the hospital would issue a statement onward Thursday.

In court papers filed last week, Astor's grandson, Philip Marshall, accused his father of ignoring the woman's health and safety "while enriching himself with millions of dollars."

"Her bedroom is thus cold in the winter that my grandmother is forced to rest in the TV room in torn nightgowns forward a filthy couch that get scent ofs probably from dog urine," Philip Marshall said.

The court papers, first reported Wednesday at the Daily News, seek the removal of 82-year-old Anthony Marshall as his mother's legal guardian and to have him replaced with Annette de la Renta, the wife of Oscar de la Renta, and JP Morgan Chase bank.

CO-PRODUCER DISPUTES CLAIMS

David Richenthal, who produc three Broadway plays with Anthony Marshall, told the of the present day York Times that the allegations were "the greatest in number fabricated bunch of nonsense I've till doomsday read."

Richenthal said Astor's doctors had diagnosed Alzheimer's disease several years ago and her condition has declined. He said Marshall "spend a useful deal of his energy taking beautiful care of his mother."

Astor ran the Astor Foundation after the death of her third husband, Vincent Astor, in 1959 He was the great-great-grandson of patriarch John Jacob Astor, who made a fortune in fur trading and real estate and was the wealthiest man in America by way of 1840.

Brooke Astor gave millions to the strange York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall and the Museum of Natural History. yet she also funded smaller exhibits such as new windows for a nursing home

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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