Robert Trump, President’s Younger Brother, Dies at 71

The former Trump Organization executive was hospitalized in mid-August

robert trump
Robert Trump in 2005 (Photo by Desiree Navarro/Getty Images)

Robert Trump, the younger brother of Donald and a former real estate developer-executive at the Trump Organization, died on Saturday. He was 71 years old.

“It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” Donald Trump said in a statement. “He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace.”

Robert Trump was hospitalized in serious condition in mid-August for reasons that were not immediately known. The president visited him in the New York City hospital’s intensive care unit last Friday after White House officials said his condition continued to grow worse.

A cause of his death was not immediately released.

In July, Robert Trump was at the center of litigation against his niece, Mary Trump, who was preparing to publish her tell-all memoir about the Trump family, “Too Much and Never Enough.” At the time, Robert Trump sought — ultimately unsuccessfully — to have a restraining order placed on Mary Trump to prevent her from disclosing information about himself, Donald Trump and Maryanne Trump Barry.

The youngest of Fred Trump’s five children, Robert Trump was a Boston University graduate, who began his career in corporate finance on Wall Street. He joined the Trump family business later, where he managed the company’s real estate holdings.

The president spoke of his brother in his bestseller “The Art of the Deal,” writing, “I think it must be hard to have me for a brother but he’s never said anything about it and we’re very close. Robert gets along with almost everyone, which is great for me since I sometimes have to be the bad guy.”

A frequent face on Manhattan’s Upper East Side charity circuit, Robert was low key and stayed out of the spotlight during Donald’s presidential run but said of his brother’s win, “I support Donald one thousand percent.”

Robert Trump is survived by his longtime girlfriend, but bride of just five months, Ann Marie Pallan.

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