Frederick Crist Trump Jr. (October 14, 1938 – September 26, 1981) was an American airplane pilot and maintenance worker. The eldest son of real-estate businessman
Fred Trump Sr., he fell out of his father's favor when he chose to become an airline pilot, leading to his younger brother
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 ...
inheriting
the family business.
Both Fred Sr. and Donald disparaged Fred Jr. for becoming a pilot instead of continuing in the family real estate business. By the early 1970s, he could no longer function as a pilot due to his
alcoholism
Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
, a condition which also contributed to his fatal
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
.
Early life
Frederick Crist Trump Jr. was born on October 14, 1938, as the first son of real-estate developer
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 Trump 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 ...
, New York City. In 1956 Fred Jr. graduated from
St. Paul's School, a college preparatory academy for boys. In that same year his father, Fred Sr., donated money to have the playing fields redone and in his honor were renamed Trump Field.
Trump attended
Lehigh University
Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...
and joined a historically
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
fraternity,
Sigma Alpha Mu
Sigma Alpha Mu (), commonly known as Sammy, is a college fraternity founded at the City College of New York in 1909. Though initially founded as a Jewish organization, the fraternity dropped its religious affiliation and became open to men of a ...
, although he was not Jewish.
In 2018, psychoanalyst
Justin A. Frank asserted that Fred Jr. joined a Jewish fraternity to rebel against his father, whom Frank alleged was
anti-Semitic
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
. (In 2020, Fred Jr.'s daughter,
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religion
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...
, accused Fred Sr. of being "quite
anti-Semitic
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
".) Fred Trump Jr. became president of the fraternity and graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
in business, also completing
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...
and entering the
Air National Guard
The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia (United States), militia of each U.S. ...
as a second lieutenant.
Middle life and career
In 1958, Trump met Linda Clapp while vacationing in the
Bahamas
The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...
. She later became a flight attendant and asked him for help finding an apartment near
Idlewild Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport serving New York City and its metropolitan area. JFK Airport is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is t ...
; 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 flight attendants to be married. They settled in Manhattan and had their first child,
Frederick Crist Trump III, in November 1962. The next year, they moved into one of Fred Sr.'s apartments in
Jamaica, Queens
Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It has a popular large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis, St Albans, and Cambria Heights to the ea ...
. During this time, Trump did maintenance jobs on his father's properties.
Fred Sr. wanted his oldest son to be "invulnerable" so he could take over his real-estate business, E. Trump & Son (later known as
the Trump Organization
The Trump Organization, Inc. is an American Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Privately owned by Donald Trump, it serves as the holding company for most of Business career of Donald Trump, Trump's business ventures and investments, with ar ...
), but Fred Jr. was the opposite in personality. In 1966, Fred Jr. was listed in newspapers as vice president of the company, but he had a difficult time working with his father. That same year, Fred Jr. left the company to pursue his dream of being a pilot, quickly being accepted at
Trans World Airlines
Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1930 until it was acquired by American Airlines in 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles ...
, which created tension with his father.
According to Fred Jr.'s daughter,
Mary L. Trump (born 1965), her grandfather "dismantled him by devaluing and degrading every aspect of his personality." She said Fred Sr. 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 ...
mocked him for his decision to become an airline pilot, comparing it to being a bus driver or chauffeur.
Alcoholism and death

By 1970, after a series of domestic incidents, Clapp asked Trump to leave their home and arranged for Fred Sr. to change the locks. When his
alcoholism
Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
prevented him from continuing to function as a pilot, Trump returned to work for his father's business. He eventually moved into the unfurnished attic of his parents' house and again did maintenance on Trump properties. On September 26, 1981,
at the age of 42, he died from a heart attack caused by his alcohol use.
Aftermath
Donald Trump, who since 1976 has spoken publicly of his own abstinence from alcohol, initially cited the formative influence of their father's
teetotalism
Teetotalism is the practice of voluntarily abstaining from the consumption of alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler (US) or teetotaller (UK), or said to b ...
, but also included experience with his brother, saying:
Every day he lectured me, "Look at the mess I'm in. If I ever catch you smoking, you'll be sorry, drinking even a glass of booze because you'll like it too much." ... Freddy did a good job.
On March 16, 1994, Trump's mother stated in an interview with Irish broadcaster
Bibi Baskin
Olive "Bibi" Baskin (born 19 May 1952) is an Irish radio presenter, hotelier and former television presenter for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). She has been described as "RTÉ's legendary redhead". She has also worked as a magazine and ...
that "We lost a son, our oldest son. He was 41. Something a mother never forgets."
In 1999, just after Fred Sr.'s funeral, Fred III's son, William Trump, was born with
cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...
. The Trump family agreed to pay for the child's medical expenses. When Fred Sr.'s will was revealed it mandated that Trump's children, Fred III and Mary, would be excluded from their father's share of Fred Sr.'s inheritance; over $20 million would be divided among Fred Sr.'s other children.
Fred III and Mary filed a lawsuit, alleging that their father's siblings, including Donald, exhibited "undue influence" on a
dementia
Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...
-addled Fred Sr. to cut them out of the inheritance. Donald, who later said he "was angry because they sued,"
suspended the medical benefits for Trump 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.
Mary’s lawsuit was rejected by a New York State Court, citing that she had signed agreements that removed her ability to sue but granted her more than $2.7 million. The judge found her to have willfully acknowledged (and signed) the agreement and ruled that the agreement was neither coerced nor unfair.
The court decision was upheld on appeal.
In 2019, Donald Trump said about his brother's death:
I do regret having put pressure on him s running the family businesswas just something he was never going to want. ... It was just not his thing. ... I think the mistake that we onald and Fred Sr.made was we assumed that everybody would like it unning the business That would be the biggest mistake. ... what he loved doing was flying airplanes.
References
Footnotes
Citations
Works cited
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trump, Fred
1938 births
1981 deaths
20th-century American businesspeople
American people of German descent
American people of Scottish descent
Aviators from New York (state)
Businesspeople from New York City
Lehigh University alumni
New York National Guard personnel
People from Jamaica, Queens
People from Queens, New York
Fred Trump Jr.
Alcohol-related deaths in New York City