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When I was the dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, and Schuyler Chapin was dean of the School of Arts, the then president, Michael Sovern, asked us to bring [Brooke Astor] to lunch—he’d never met her. Sovern was a little apprehensive, and she said, “Well, I know why I’m here. Do you know the one about the lady from Kent?” He said no, and she replied:
There was a young lady of Kent
Who said that she knew what it meant
When men asked her to dine,
And served cocktails and wine
She knew what it meant— but she went!
And she said, “How much do you want?” He was taken aback. She said, “We can’t give you the kind of money we give to the Bronx Zoo, or those places.” “Well,” Sovern said, “we could use a million dollars for scholarships.” “Oh, we can do that!” she replied. To this day, I think he’s sorry he didn’t ask for more.
-- Osborn Elliott, former editor, Newsweek
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