He was among the most prominent American passengers aboard RMS Titanic and perished along with 1,495 others when the ship sank on her maiden voyage.

[2][3] John Jacob Astor IV was born on July 13, 1864, at his parents' country estate of Ferncliff in Rhinebeck, New York.

He was the youngest of five children and only son of William Backhouse Astor Jr., a businessman, collector, and racehorse breeder/owner, and Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn, a Dutch-American socialite.

His maternal grandparents were Abraham Schermerhorn, a wealthy merchant, and socialite Helen Van Courtlandt White.

His ungainly appearance and the perception that he was an aimless dilettante led one newspaper to give him the name "Jack Ass-tor".

[5][6] Among Astor's accomplishments was A Journey in Other Worlds (1894), a science-fiction novel about life in the year 2000 on the planets Saturn and Jupiter.

[7] He also patented several inventions, including a bicycle brake in 1898, a "vibratory disintegrator" used to produce gas from peat moss, and a pneumatic road-improver, and he helped develop a turbine engine.

Volunteers and served as an officer on the staff of Major General William Shafter in Cuba, during the Santiago Campaign.

He appeared in the films President McKinley's Inspection of Camp Wikoff (1898) and Col. John Jacob Astor, Staff and Veterans of the Spanish–American War (1899).

[citation needed] On February 17, 1891,[13] Astor married socialite Ava Lowle Willing, a daughter of Edward Shippen Willing and Alice Barton.

Astor and Force were married in his mother's ballroom at Beechwood, the family's Newport, Rhode Island, mansion.

After receiving a call to return to the United States, Brown accompanied the couple back home aboard RMS Titanic.

The house retained its conservative exterior, and a separate sports pavilion in the Louis XVI style was built.

The Astors were deeply fond of their dog and had come close to losing her on a previous trip when she went missing in Egypt.

According to Edith Rosenbaum, Astor pointed out some vital statistics of the ship, and said, "She's unsinkable, a modern shipbuilding miracle.

Some time later, as the ship's lifeboats for first class were being manned, Astor remained unperturbed; he and his wife played with the mechanical horses in the gymnasium.

At some point Astor is thought to have sliced the lining of an extra lifebelt with a pen knife to show his wife its contents, either to prove they were not of use or to reassure her that they were.

[27] When Second Officer Charles Lightoller later arrived on A Deck to finish loading Lifeboat 4, Astor helped his wife, with her maid and nurse, into it.

He then asked if he might join his wife because she was in "a delicate condition;" however, Lightoller told him men were not to be allowed to board until all the women and children had been loaded.

[30] After Lifeboat 4 was lowered at 1:55 am, Astor is said to have stood with John Thayer, Harry Widner and Arthur Ryerson, waving.

Among the items found on him was a gold pocket watch, which his son Vincent claimed and wore the rest of his life.

[31][32] It was later reported that "in 1935, Vincent gave the watch as a christening gift to the infant son of William Dobbyn IV, John Jacob Astor’s executive secretary".

"[35] Author Tim Maltin writes that Astor’s jaw injury was relatively slight and could have been caused by his lifebelt, if he jumped from Titanic, or by other drowning passengers or debris as the ship sank.

[38] Survivor Philip Mock was quoted as claiming to have seen Astor in the water clinging to a raft with William Thomas Stead.