We are excited to have as our main speaker this year, well-known elder justice advocate Philip Marshall.

In 2006, after years of increasing concern, Mr. Marshall, with the help of others, sought a petition for guardianship (which was awarded) for his grandmother, Brooke Astor, who was a victim of elder abuse by her son, Philip’s father. (Photograph by Alec Marshall is of Brooke Astor and Philip Marshall at Holly Hill, her country house in Briarcliff, New York.)

The story was chronicled nationally by the press due to Mrs. Astor’s renown, the nature of allegations indicated in the petition, and events culminating in a six-month criminal trial and conviction of Mr. Marshall’s father and one of his grandmother’s lawyers.

Through her life, Brooke Astor was known for her philanthropic work in New York City. Today, Mr. Marshall believes that his grandmother’s greatest legacy, nationwide, is twofold:

• how her sad circumstances have spurred a greater recognition of elder abuse and,
• as an active senior for almost half a century, how Mrs. Astor's life exemplifies ways our last decades can be so purposeful and filled with philanthropy—an engaged ‘love of humanity.'

Mr. Marshall now seeks to tell his grandmother’s story and to help the greater cause of elder justice. 

Philip Marshall has been teaching and practicing in the field of historic preservation for over thirty years. He has held faculty positions at Columbia University, the University of Vermont, and Roger Williams University where serves as professor in the historic preservation program. His consulting includes work with the Hopi Nation in Arizona; the Tibetan community in America; and federal and state agencies, museums, and other nonprofit organizations. He serves on the board of national, state, and local organizations.

Since 2010, Mr. Marshall has been border to border, coast to coast, face to face with elder-justice practitioners nationwide. He has testified before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging; presented keynote addresses and worked with national organizations representing the financial industry, healthcare, law enforcement, social services and other arenas to advance his work – beyondbrooke.org.