Rupert Murdoch's mother Dame Elisabeth Murdoch dies aged 103 The widow of Australian journalist and newspaper publisher Keith Murdoch, she was admitted to hospital in September after a fall in her home in which she broke her leg. "Dame Elisabeth was a philanthropist of the old school, quietly helping dozens of causes and charities with minimum fanfare," the rival Sydney Morning Herald said. "She was interested in everybody and everything, equally comfortable with a gardener in overalls as she was with a governor-general in full regalia," it added. The renowned centenarian was the patron of more than 100 charities and was not afraid to part views with her media tycoon son on issues including his acquisition of the now-defunct News of the World tabloid. "I didn't approve at all," she recalled in a 2009 interview. What they published was intruding into people's privacy. The News of the World was closed last year after a damaging phone-hacking scandal in Britain which has seen charges laid against a number of News International staff including the newspaper's former editor Rebekah Brooks. "Rupert and I don't always agree but we respect each others' attitudes," she said in a 2008 television interview. Oh I express my views very strongly and Rupert listens to them. Sometimes (he) takes my advice but on the whole you just have to, I think, maintain your views without insisting that somebody else accepts them. Dame Elisabeth, who would have turned 104 in early February, once said she hoped to live to at least 105, describing it as a "fair run." I might even be able to live a bit longer. I hope so. In fact I'd like to live forever," she said.