Fred Trump Jr.

Frederick Crist "Freddy" Trump Jr. was born on October 14, 1938 as the first son of wealthy real estate developer Fred Trump and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump in Queens, New York.[1] 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.[2] Fred Jr. attended Lehigh University and joined a historically Jewish fraternity, Sigma Alpha Mu, even though he was not Jewish.[3] He became president of the fraternity and graduated with a B.A. in business, also completing ROTC and entering the Air National Guard as a second lieutenant.[4]

In 1958, he met Linda Clapp while vacationing in the Bahamas. She later became a stewardess and asked Fred Jr. for help finding an apartment near Idlewild Airport; 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.[5] The next year, they moved into one of Fred Sr.'s apartments in Jamaica, Queens. During this time, he did maintenance jobs on his father's properties.[6] Fred Sr. wanted his oldest son to be "invulnerable" so he could take over E. Trump & Son, but Fred Jr. was the opposite in personality.[7] In 1966 Fred Jr. was listed in newspapers as vice president for E. Trump & Son but had a difficult time working with his father.[8] Fred Jr. left E. Trump & Son to pursue his dream of being a pilot, quickly being accepted at Trans World Airlines, which created tension with his father.[9] According to Fred Jr.'s daughter, Mary L. Trump (born 1965), her grandfather "dismantled him by devaluing and degrading every aspect of his personality." Both he and Donald mocked him for his decision to become an airline pilot, comparing it to driving a bus.[10][11][12]

By 1970, after a series of domestic incidents, Clapp asked Fred Jr. to leave and arranged for Fred Sr. to change the locks.[13] When his alcoholism 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.[14][15] On September 26, 1981,[14] at the age of 42, he died from a heart attack caused by his alcoholism.[16][17][lower-alpha 1] Donald Trump later said watching his brother descend into alcoholism motivated him to avoid alcohol and cigarettes;[19] in August 2019, he expressed regret over how he treated Fred Jr. and his struggle. Trump said Fred's memory still shaped his life to that day, and had a huge impact on the trajectory of his own business career and life, saying, "He was so handsome, and I saw what alcohol did to him even physically ... and that had an impact on me, too."[20]

In 1999, just after Fred Sr.'s funeral, Fred III's son, William Trump, was born with cerebral palsy.[21] The Trump family agreed to pay for the child's medical expenses. Fred Sr.'s will was revealed, which Donald Trump helped write. The will mandated that Fred Jr., and by extension his children, Fred III and Mary, would be left out from receiving most of the inheritance, which amounted to over $20 million.[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3] Fred III and Mary filed a lawsuit, alleging that Fred Jr.'s siblings, including Donald, used "undue influence" on a dementia-addled Fred Sr. to cut them out of the inheritance. Donald Trump, who later said he "was angry because they sued,"[9] 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.[23]