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]
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]
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
^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]
^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]
^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)