Anthony Marshall, disgraced only child of Brooke Astor, dies aged 90

Anthony Marshall, whose aristocratic life as philanthropist Brooke Astor's only child unravelled as he was convicted of raiding her fortune, has died, his lawyer said. Marshall was 90.

Marshall, a decorated second world war veteran who later became a diplomat and Broadway producer, died on Sunday morning in New York, attorney Kenneth Warner said on Monday. Warner didn't immediately have information on the cause of Marshall's death, but the 90-year-old had had heart and other health problems for years.

Marshall was convicted in October 2009 of taking advantage of his aged mother's slipping mind to loot her millions, and he was sentenced to one to three years in prison. His incarceration was delayed for more than three years as he made his appeals, and Marshall ultimately went to prison in June last year.

He was granted medical parole two months later, with a state parole board finding that he was suffering from debilitating and permanent, though not terminal, illness. The board asked whether he had regrets about the events leading to his imprisonment, according to a transcript.

Born into wealth, Marshall enjoyed a life of upper-class respectability that was shattered when one of his own sons, Philip Marshall, publicly accused him in 2006 of looting the society doyenne's money while letting her live in squalor. The allegations of physical neglect were never substantiated, but they led to the criminal case over Astor's finances.

Astor was 105 and suffering from Alzheimer's disease when she died in 2007. Years earlier, she was awarded the nation's highest civilian honour — the Presidential Medal of Freedom — for giving away nearly US$200 million to charities and institutions.