Who’s Your Daddy?

Is he the patriarch of one of 29 high-powered families profiled in this week’s Observer? A new, improved nepotism:

Somewhere between the Astors and 2006, it seemed as though the city had lost its class, to put it mildly. But Mrs. Astor — even in her ancient, faded, painted and chipped state, worn down by a century and four years and more of a great life — had saved it once more. She had once more reasserted the importance of life, reminded us that we are a city in which family trumps all. It may have been that the ghosts of Four Hundred society wafted from the vents at Delmonico’s and possessed vengeful Post and Daily News reporters who slashed and whacked at poor Anthony Marshall, who eventually was vindicated by the judge.

But something more important happened, once more, in a city where it has rarely failed to happen: Mother had won. And New York is a town that is defined by families. We have chosen 29 of them, and the power of family defines each, a power that supersedes any other consideration, and that is at once the clearest thing in life, and the most mysterious.