Robert Stewart Trump (August 26, 1948 – August 15, 2020) was an American businessman and investor. He was the younger brother of

U.S. president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, and was a loyal supporter of Donald's political career. Trump served on the board of directors for

ZeniMax Media ZeniMax Media Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded in 1999 by Christopher Weaver and Robert A. Altman as the parent company for Weaver's video game publisher Bethesda Softworks. ...

, parent company to

Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a Division (business), division of Media Technology Limited. In 1999, it became a subsidiary of Z ...

, a position he occupied from 1999 until his death in 2020. In addition to being a board member at ZeniMax, he was also an investor in the company. In the years before his death, Robert Trump was the president of Trump Management, a business owned by the Trump siblings. At some point, he also worked as a real estate developer.

Early life and education

Robert Trump was born in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

on August 26, 1948, to

Fred Trump Frederick Christ Trump Sr. (October 11, 1905 – June 25, 1999) was an American real-estate developer and businessman. He was the father of the 45th and 47th U.S. president, Donald Trump. Born in the Bronx in New York City to Germans, German ...

and

Mary Anne MacLeod Mary Anne Trump ( MacLeod; ; May 10, 1912 – August 7, 2000) was a Scottish-American socialite and philanthropist, who was the wife of the real-estate developer Fred Trump and the mother of five children, including U.S. president Donald Trum ...

. He was the youngest of their five children; his siblings were Maryanne, Fred Jr., Elizabeth, and

Donald Donald is a Scottish masculine given name. It is 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 misinter ...

. He graduated from St Paul's School in Garden City, Long Island. Trump attended

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, where he majored in economics; while there, he played

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and was the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

and team captain in 1969.

Career

Trump joined his father's business and came to manage the

Trump Organization Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. ...

's real estate holdings outside of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Following Mark G. Etess's death in an October 1989 helicopter crash on a

Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a Controlled-access highway, controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May, New Jersey, Cape May north to the New York ...

median in Lacey Township,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, Donald Trump appointed Robert Trump to serve in Etess's former position. Etess had been the top executive at the Trump Taj Mahal, Robert Trump's special sporting events coordinator, and was the master of super deals in sports and entertainment for Donald Trump. When concern was expressed about violent video games, in the wake of the

Columbine High School massacre A school shooting and attempted bombing occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, twelfth-grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 13 students and one teach ...

in 1999, "political luminaries", including Robert Trump, were added to the board of directors for

, parent company to

. until his death in 2020. During his tenure as a director, ZeniMax published several series, including ''Fallout'', ''

The Elder Scrolls ''The Elder Scrolls'' is a series of action role-playing games, action role-playing video games primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The series focuses on Nonlinear gameplay, free-form gameplay in an ...

'', ''Doom'', and ''

Wolfenstein ''Wolfenstein'' is a series of alternate history World War II video games originally developed by Muse Software. The majority of the games follow William "B.J." Blazkowicz, an American Army captain, and his fight against the Axis powers. Earlie ...

''. His role at the company was highlighted by media outlets in the wake of the Parkland school shooting, when his brother linked video games to violence and subsequently met with various industry chiefs, including

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of ZeniMax. In addition to being a board member at ZeniMax, Trump was also an investor in the company. In the years prior to his death, Robert Trump was the president of Trump Management, Inc.,

s business, later owned by the Trump siblings, including Donald and Robert, as well as their sisters Maryanne Trump-Barry and Elizabeth Trump-Grau. At some point, Trump worked as a real estate developer.

Mary Trump book lawsuit

In June 2020, Robert Trump filed a lawsuit seeking to preclude the upcoming publication of the book by his niece, Mary L. Trump, '' Too Much and Never Enough''. Trump's lawsuit was based on a 2001 confidentiality agreement Mary Trump signed in settling a lawsuit related to her grandfather, Fred Trump's, will and estate. Justice Hal B. Greenwald of the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

ruled in July 2020 that the book's publisher,

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, was not a party to the 2001 NDA, and its rights to publish the book were not restricted by that agreement. Greenwald affirmed that Mary Trump's contract with the publisher gave her no ability to halt publication at that point. The book was published on July 14, 2020.

Personal life

Robert Trump lived in

Millbrook, New York Millbrook is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. Millbrook is located in the Hudson Valley, on the east side of the Hudson River, north of New York City. Millbrook is near the cent ...

. In 2012, Blaine Trump put her $17.5 million mansion in Millbrook up for sale. In 1984, Trump married Blaine Beard, whom he met at a

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

fundraiser. He had a stepson named Christopher Trump-Retchin. In October 2004, Blaine overdosed on pills and was hospitalized at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan after she learned that Robert bought a $3.7 million house on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

for his secretary and then-girlfriend Ann Marie Pallan. They were involved in a lengthy divorce battle that lasted from 2007 until reaching a secret settlement in 2010. In 2006, after Robert and Blaine separated, they put their , three-unit, three-floor, unfinished co-op residence on the market. Trump married his second wife, Ann Marie Pallan, in January 2020. Robert was a longtime friend of Robert A. Altman.

Relationship with his brother Donald

In 1990, Donald Trump put Robert in charge of the Trump Taj Mahal casino in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

. The casino experienced significant problems with its grand opening, especially the slot machine financial controls, that took months to rectify. According to Jack O'Donnell, a former Trump Organization executive, at one of the meetings, "Donald Trump screamed at his brother, putting the blame for the slot machine debacle entirely on him." Robert Trump remained a loyal supporter of his brother's political career. Fox commentator, Eric Bolling, following Robert's death, had stated that he and his wife Ann Marie Pallan were vigorous supporters of Donald. Donald himself stated on ''

Fox & Friends ''Fox & Friends'' is an American daily morning conservative news and talk program that airs on Fox News and reruns on Fox.Thompson, Ethan, and Jason Mittell. "Fox & Friends: Political Talk." ''How to Watch Television.'' 168-76. Print. It premie ...

'' that Robert was his biggest fan and that he would hear about Robert's immense support from others too.

Illness and death

In August 2020,

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

reported that Trump had been hospitalized at Mount Sinai Hospital in

, after having previously been in the hospital's

intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive care medicine. An inten ...

for over a week in June. Donald Trump visited him that day, later stating that Robert was seriously ill and was "having a hard time". Robert Trump died at

NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (abbreviated as NYP) is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City. It is the primary teaching hospital for Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The hospi ...

in Manhattan the following day, August 15, 2020, at age 71. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' quoted a family friend as saying that Trump had recently started experiencing intracerebral hemorrhaging after a fall. His niece Mary, in an interview with

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

a few days before his death, said that Robert had been sick and hospitalized "a couple of times in the last three months." In a written statement, Donald Trump said, "He was not just my brother, he was my best friend." A

funeral service A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

was held for Robert on August 21, 2020, in the

East Room The East Room is an event and reception room in the Executive Residence of the White House complex, the home of the president of the United States. The East Room is the largest room in the Executive Residence; it is used for dances, receptions, p ...

attended by 150 guests. This was the first time in almost a century that a president had held a funeral in the East Room.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trump, Robert 1948 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American corporate directors American investors American people of German descent American people of Scottish descent American real estate and property developers American technology chief executives American video game businesspeople American video game producers Boston University Terriers men's soccer players Businesspeople from Queens, New York People from Millbrook, New York

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

The Trump Organization employees ZeniMax Media Men's association football players not categorized by position Association football players not categorized by nationality