Frederick Crist Trump Jr. (October 14, 1938 – September 26, 1981; nicknamed "Freddy") was an American airplane pilot and maintenance worker. The eldest son to realtor Fred Trump Sr., he fell out of his father's favor when he chose to become an airline pilot. Fred Sr. then chose Fred Jr.'s younger brother

Donald Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

to take over the family business.

Early life

Frederick Crist Trump Jr. was born on October 14, 1938, as the first son of wealthy real estate developer

Fred Trump Frederick Christ Trump Sr. (October 11, 1905 – June 25, 1999) was an American real estate developer and businessman. A member of the Trump family, he was the father of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States. In partnership w ...

and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. In 1956 Fred Jr. graduated from St. Paul's School. In that same year his father Fred Sr. donated money to have the playing fields redone and in his honor were renamed Trump Field. Fred Jr. attended

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epi ...

and joined a historically Jewish fraternity,

Sigma Alpha Mu Sigma Alpha Mu (), commonly known as Sammy, is a college fraternity founded at the City College of New York in 1909. Though initially founded as a Jewish organization, the fraternity dropped its religious affiliation and became open to men of a ...

, even though he was not Jewish. He became president of the fraternity and graduated with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in business, also completing

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in al ...

and entering the

Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...

as a second lieutenant.

Pilot career

In 1958, Fred Jr. met Linda Clapp while vacationing in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the a ...

. She later became a stewardess and asked him for help finding an apartment near

Idlewild Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Ne ...

; they soon began dating. He proposed to her in 1961. In early 1962, they were married in Florida, and she resigned from the airline, which did not allow its stewardesses to be married. They settled in Manhattan and had their first child, Frederick Crist Trump III, in November 1962. The next year, they moved into one of Fred Sr.'s apartments in

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springf ...

. During this time, Fred Jr. did maintenance jobs on his father's properties. Fred Sr. wanted his oldest son to be "invulnerable" so he could take over his real-estate business, E. Trump & Son, but Fred Jr. was the opposite in personality. In 1966, Fred Jr. was listed in newspapers as vice president of E. Trump & Son, but he had a difficult time working with his father. Fred Jr. left the company to pursue his dream of being a pilot, quickly being accepted at

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

, which created tension with his father. According to Fred Jr.'s daughter,

Mary L. Trump Mary Lea Trump (born May 3, 1965) is an American psychologist and author. A niece of former president Donald Trump, she has been critical of him as well as the rest of the Trump family. Her 2020 book about him and the family, '' Too Much and Ne ...

(born 1965), her grandfather "dismantled him by devaluing and degrading every aspect of his personality." Both Fred Sr. and

mocked him for his decision to become an airline pilot, comparing it to driving a bus or being a chauffeur.

Alcoholism and death

By 1970, after a series of domestic incidents, Clapp asked Fred Jr. to leave and arranged for Fred Sr. to change the locks. When his

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

prevented him from continuing to function as a pilot, he returned to work for his father's business. He eventually moved into the unfurnished attic of his parents' house, and once again did maintenance on Trump properties. On September 26, 1981, at the age of 42, he died from a heart attack caused by his alcohol use. Donald Trump, who has said of his abstinence since 1976, initially cited the formative influence of their father's

teetotalism Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or is ...

, but later shifted all credit to the adult experience with his brother, claiming:

Every day he lectured me, "Look at the mess I'm in. If I ever catch you smoking, you'll be sorry, drinking even a glass of booze because you'll like it too much." ... Freddy did a good job.

In 1999, just after Fred Sr.'s funeral, Fred III's son, William Trump, was born with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sens ...

. The Trump family agreed to pay for the child's medical expenses. Fred Sr.'s will was revealed, which Donald Trump helped write. It mandated that Fred Jr.'s children, Fred III and Mary, would be excluded from their father's share of Fred Sr.'s inheritance; over $20 million would be divided among Fred Sr.'s other children. Fred III and Mary filed a lawsuit, alleging that Fred Jr.'s siblings, including Donald, used "undue influence" on a

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

-addled Fred Sr. to cut them out of the inheritance. Donald, who later said he "was angry because they sued," suspended the medical benefits for Fred Jr.'s children, as well as Fred III's infant son. According to Mary, she and Fred III sued to have the benefits reinstated, but only her infant nephew received "some accommodations" as a result.

References

Footnotes

Citations

Works cited

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trump, Fred 1938 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople American people of German descent American people of Scottish descent Aviators from New York (state) Businesspeople from New York City Lehigh University alumni New York National Guard personnel People from Jamaica, Queens People from Queens, New York Fred Trump Jr. Alcohol-related deaths in New York City