Robert Trump
Born
Robert Stewart Trump

(1948-08-26)August 26, 1948
New York City, U.S.
DiedAugust 15, 2020(2020-08-15) (aged 71)
New York City, U.S.
Alma materBoston University (BS)
Occupations
  • Businessman
  • real estate developer
  • investor
Board member ofZeniMax Media
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1984; div. 2009)​
Ann Marie Pallan
​
(m. 2020)​
Parent(s)Fred Trump
Mary Anne MacLeod
FamilyTrump family

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

He served on the board of directors for ZeniMax Media, parent company to Bethesda Softworks, a position he occupied from 1999[1] until his death in 2020.[2] In addition to being a board member at ZeniMax, Trump was also an investor in the company.[3]

In the years prior to his death, Robert Trump was the president of Trump Management, a business owned by the Trump siblings, including Donald and Robert.[4] At some point, Trump worked as a real estate developer.[5]

Early life and education

See also: Family of Donald Trump

Robert Trump was born in Queens, New York City, on August 26, 1948, to Fred Trump and Mary Anne MacLeod.[6][7] He was the youngest of their five children; his siblings were Maryanne, Fred Jr., Elizabeth, and Donald.[6][8] He graduated from St Paul's School in Garden City, Long Island. Trump attended Boston University, where he majored in economics;[7] while there, he played soccer and was the MVP and team captain in 1969.[9]

Career

Trump joined his father's business and came to manage the Trump Organization's real estate holdings outside of Manhattan.[10][11]

Following Mark G. Etess's death in an October 10, 1989, helicopter crash on a Garden State Parkway median in Lacey Township, New Jersey, Donald Trump appointed Robert Trump to serve in Etess's former position.[12][13][a] 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.[b]

He served on the board of directors for ZeniMax Media, parent company to Bethesda Softworks, a position he occupied from 1999[1] until his death in 2020.[2] During his tenure as a director, ZeniMax published several series, including Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Doom, and Wolfenstein. 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,[17][18] including Robert Altman, CEO of ZeniMax.[19] In addition to being a board member at ZeniMax, Trump was also an investor in the company.[3]

In the years prior to his death, Robert Trump was the president of Trump Management, a business owned by the Trump siblings, including Donald and Robert, as well as their sisters Maryanne Trump-Barry and Elizabeth Trump-Grau.[4] At some point, Trump worked as a real estate developer.[5]

Mary Trump book lawsuit

Main article: Too Much and Never Enough

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.[20]

Justice Hal B. Greenwald of the New York Supreme Court ruled in July 2020 that the book's publisher, Simon & Schuster, 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.[21] The book was published as scheduled on July 14, 2020.

Personal life

Robert Trump lived in Millbrook, New York.[22] In 1984, Trump married Blaine Beard, whom he met at a Christie's fundraiser.[23] He had a stepson Christopher Trump-Retchin. The two filed for divorce in 2007, and the divorce was finalized by 2009.[7][24] Trump married his second wife, Ann Marie Pallan, in January 2020.[25] Robert was a longtime friend of Robert A. Altman.[26]

Relationship with his brother Donald

In 1990, Donald Trump put Robert in charge of the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 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."[7]

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 that Robert was his biggest fan and that he would hear about Robert's immense support from others too.[27]

Illness and death

In August 2020, ABC News reported that Trump had been hospitalized at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, after having previously been in the hospital's intensive care unit for over a week in June.[28] Donald Trump visited him that day, later stating that Robert was seriously ill and was "having a hard time".[29][30] Robert Trump died at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan the following day, August 15, 2020, at age 71. The New York Times quoted a family friend as saying that Trump had recently started experiencing intracerebral hemorrhaging after a fall.[7] Mary L. Trump, in an interview with Greenpeace a few days before his death, said that Robert had been sick and hospitalized "a couple of times in the last three months."[31]

In a written statement, Donald Trump said, "He was not just my brother, he was my best friend."[7][32] A funeral service was held for Robert on August 21, 2020, in the East Room attended by 150 guests. This was the first time in almost a century that a president had held a funeral in the East Room.[27]

Notes

  1. ^ In addition to the death of 37-year-old Mark Grossinger Etess from Margate, others killed in the October 10, 1989 helicopter crash were the pilot Robert Kent, from Ronkonkoma, New York, the co-pilot Lawrence Diener from Westbury, New York, Jonathan Benanav from Margate, and Stephen F. Hyde from Linwood. Jonathan Benanav, 33, had worked as an executive assistant manager and director of hotel operations at the Sands Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City from June 1982 to July 1985, then had worked as general manager at the Airport Hilton in Philadelphia before joining the Trump Organization in 1986 where he was the executive vice president of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. Stephen F. Hyde, 43, was a quiet man who was attentive to details and headed Trump's three Atlantic City casino properties. The crash occurred at 1:40pm near Garden State Parkway mile marker 71.5 about 0.75 miles (1.21 km) from the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant.[12][13]
  2. ^ After Donald Trump traveled to Russia and visited Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1987, he began organizing sporting events through representatives with Viktor Galaev (Russian: Виктор Галаев) and the KGB controller Sergey Chemezov's Sovintersport which held a monopoly on Soviet sports. As KGB officers, both Vladimir Putin and Chemezov, who were friends, lived in the same apartment building in Dresden when they formed Sovintersport in the 1980s.[14][15][16]

References

  1. ^ a b McAloon, Alissa (August 17, 2020). "Obituary: ZeniMax board member Robert Trump". Gamasutra. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "ZeniMax Media Board of Directors". Archived from the original on July 31, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  3. ^ a b Takahashi, Dean (May 30, 2008). "ZeniMax Media raises $9.9 million from some big names". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Thomas Kika (August 14, 2020). "Who Is Robert Trump? President's Brother Hospitalized, Seriously Ill". International Business Times. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Trump says younger brother and 'best friend' Robert Trump has died". The Independent. August 16, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Hannan, Martin (May 20, 2016). "An inconvenient truth? Donald Trump's Scottish mother was a low-earning migrant". The National. Archived from the original on October 14, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Karni, Annie (August 15, 2020). "Robert S. Trump, the President's Younger Brother, Dies at 71". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  8. ^ "Trump's Brother and Yankees Executive Coming to Hudson Valley". WKXP. January 9, 2017. Archived from the original on February 12, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  9. ^ Staff Writer (August 16, 2020). "Robert Trump, BU Alum and President's Brother, Dies". BU Today. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  10. ^ Blair, Gwenda (2015). The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders and a Presidential Candidate. Simon & Schuster. p. 454. ISBN 978-1501139369. Archived from the original on February 17, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  11. ^ Horowitz, Jason (January 2, 2016). "For Donald Trump, Lessons From a Brother's Suffering". New York Times. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  12. ^ a b Borja, Debbie (October 11, 1989). "Oct. 10, 1989: 3 Trump execs, 2 pilots die as helicopter crashes in Parkway median". The Press of Atlantic City. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Trump Taj Mahal closed on the anniversary of executives' helicopter crash". The Press of Atlantic City. October 10, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  14. ^ Raschke, Erik (July 1, 2018). "The Outer Line: Tour de Trump with a Russian accent: Erik Raschke examines the connection between Russia and the Tour de Trump". VeloNews. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  15. ^ Козырев, Михаил (Kozyrev, Mikhail) (October 3, 2007). "Под прикрытием" [Under cover]. Forbes (in Russian). Archived from the original on August 11, 2021. Retrieved August 11, 2021.((cite news)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Dawisha, Karen (2014). Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?. Simon & Schuster. pp. 58, 240. ISBN 978-1-4767-9519-5.
  17. ^ Sink, Justin; Palmeri, Christopher (March 8, 2018). "Video-Game Companies Are Meeting With Trump. His Brother Is on One's Board". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  18. ^ Montanaro, Domenico; Parks, Miles (March 18, 2018). "Trump Pits Video Game Makers Against Harshest Critics In Closed-Door Meeting". NPR. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  19. ^ Snider, Mike (March 8, 2018). "These are the video games the White House played in its meeting on game violence". USA Today. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  20. ^ Jacobs, Shayna (July 13, 2020). "Judge affirms Trump's niece can publish her book about the president and his family". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 18, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  21. ^ "Donald Trump's Niece Mary Can Speak Out About Her Family with Scathing New Memoir, Judge Rules". People.com. July 14, 2020. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  22. ^ Kasssel, Matthew (November 2, 2016). "Where Has Donald Trump's Brother Robert Been During This Election?". Town & Country. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  23. ^ "The Winning Ways of Blaine Trump". New York Times. October 28, 1987. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  24. ^ Rosenblum, Emma (December 8, 2007). "Divorce, Park Avenue Style". New York. Archived from the original on June 3, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  25. ^ "Robert Trump, younger brother of president, dead at 71". August 16, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  26. ^ Palmeri, Christopher (September 25, 2020). "From Banking Scandal to Video-Game CEO to Billion-Dollar Score". bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  27. ^ a b Rogers, Katie; Haberman, Maggie (August 21, 2020). "Trump Holds a Rare White House Funeral for His Younger Brother, Robert". The New York Times. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  28. ^ Holland, Steve (August 16, 2020). "'He was my best friend' - Robert Trump, US president's brother who shunned the spotlight, dies". Irish Independent.
  29. ^ "Robert Trump, Donald's brother, seriously ill in New York hospital". The Guardian. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  30. ^ Jackson, David; Fritze, John; Subramanian, Courtney (August 14, 2020). "'Having a hard time.' President Trump's brother Robert is hospitalized in New York". USA Today. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  31. ^ "Fireside fire drill with Jane Fonda and Mary Trump". Greenpeace USA. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  32. ^ "Robert Trump, the younger brother of President Donald Trump, dead at age 71". CNN. August 16, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
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