( NYPost )
Robert Trump, President Trump’s younger brother, who served as a top executive at the Trump Organization, has died. He was 71.
Robert’s death on Saturday comes a day after he was hospitalized in New York Friday. In June, he spent more than a week in the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Robert took blood thinners, and had suffered brain bleeds since a recent fall, a close friend to the family told The New York Times.
“It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” the president said in a statement.
“He was not just my brother, he was my best friend,” he went on. “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.”
Born in 1948, Robert was the youngest of Fred and Mary Trump’s five children — behind Maryanne, Fred Jr., Elizabeth and Donald.
He followed in Donald’s footsteps in working for the family’s real estate business the Trump Organization, holding senior positions including executive vice president in the 1980s.
Robert also oversaw the Trump Organization’s casino operations in Atlantic City at one point.
But unlike his celebrity brother, Robert managed to largely stay out of the public eye.
He made headlines, however, with his divorce from Blaine Trump, the philanthropist who filed for the split in 2008 amid revelations that he was cheating on her with his Trump Organization secretary, Ann Marie Pallan.
The former couple of 25 years, who did not have any children, were unable to reach an amicable divorce settlement — forcing them to hash it out in court.
A Blaine pal said Robert was the one playing hardball.
“Robert offered her a settlement and then, for reasons unknown, yanked it off the table. So now she’s forced to go to court to get her fair share of the marital assets,” the source said at the time.
“They were married for over two decades. She helped build his business, and now he’s balking at giving her anything.”
Their divorce was finalized in 2010 under confidential terms.
He and Pallan wound up buying a multimillion dollar home in Garden City, Long Island, with the pair officially tying the knot in March.
Robert was a frequent — albeit reserved — fixture in Milbrook in Dutchess County, New York, too.
One local resident described him as a classy and dignified guy.
“He’s not flamboyant,” the local told Town and Country magazine. “He couldn’t be more different than his brother, quite frankly. I don’t even know how they’re in the same family.”
Pallan owns the farm-to-table restaurant Monte’s Local Kitchen & Tap Room in Amenia, which is 15 minutes down the road from Milbrook.
The restaurant, where “Chopped” champ Dafna Mizrahi serves as executive chef, catered to a Trump rally in Poughkeepsie in April.
It also features a $17.50 eight-ounce burger named after Robert — the “RST All American,” with cheese, lettuce, aioli, homemade pickles and truffle fries.
“The Trump boys love their burgers,” Pallan told The Hudson Valley News last year.
Robert was known for supporting local charities, including serving as a trustee of the nonprofit Angels of Light and a horse-rescue group, the magazine reported.
He also regularly donated to Republican candidates and state committees, according to Federal Election Commission records.
During his brother’s 2016 campaign, Robert sang the future president’s praises.
“I support Donald one thousand percent,” Robert told Page Six. “I think he’s doing a great job. I think he’s got a great message.”
He said he hadn’t been asked to join his brother on the campaign trail but would.
“If he were to need me in any way, I’d be there,” said Robert, who described himself as “gainfully retired.”
“Anything I could do to help.”
The two brothers were snapped sharing a warm embrace that November, following Donald’s victory speech in Manhattan.
Last month, Robert issued a defense of his brother — and their late father — against allegations in niece Mary Trump’s tell-all memoir that the president despised “weakness.”
He told The New York Times that he knew “how selfless my father was and Donald is, much more so than anyone would ever realize.”
Robert had joined the president’s fight against the release of Mary’s book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” arguing that its publication would violate a 2001 nondisclosure agreement barring her from speaking publicly about family members.
In a statement to the Times, he said he was “deeply disappointed” in his niece.
“Her attempt to sensationalize and mischaracterize our family relationship after all these years for her own financial gain is both a travesty and injustice to the memory of my late brother, Fred, and our beloved parents,” he wrote.
“I and the rest of my entire family are so proud of my wonderful brother, the president, and feel that Mary’s actions are truly a disgrace,” he continued.
Mary is the daughter of Robert and Donald’s late brother, Fred Jr., who died of alcoholism in 1981 at age 43.
Robert is also survived by his sisters, Maryanne Trump Barry, who is retired as a senior judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and Elizabeth Trump, a retired Chase Manhattan Bank executive.
Tributes to the president’s youngest siblings poured in late Saturday.
“Uncle Robert, we love you,” Ivanka Trump tweeted. “You are in our hearts and prayers, always.”
Eric Trump tweeted, “Robert Trump was an incredible man — strong, kind and loyal to the core. Anyone who encountered him felt his warmth immediately. He will be deeply missed by our entire family.
“Robert Trump has a big heart,” Rudy Giuliani tweeted.
“As a former Mayor I know how much he did to help New Yorkers in need. We have lost a really good man. My love, prayers and condolences to the #Trump family.
Actor and Trump supporter James Woods tweeted, “Deepest condolences, Mr. President, on the loss of your beloved brother.”
Tweeted Fox News host Laura Ingraham, “Heartbreak. God rest his soul. RIP.”
“Tonight, we are lifting uyp @realDonaldTrump and his entire family in prayer, as they grieve the loss of Robert Trump,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted.
“May God’s Peace and Grace be upon you.”
Cruz also attacked the online obit headline in The Washington Post, which read, “Robert Trump, younger brother of President Trump who filed lawsuit against niece, dies at 71.”
“This headline, on an ‘obituary’ no less, is sick,” he tweeted. “WaPo should be ashamed of itself. Robert Trump, RIP.”
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