Who was Fred Trump, Donald's father?
To get to know Donald Trump better, you have to focus on his father, Fred Trump, the great real estate mogul.
In the Trump dynasty, since the 19th century, business has been a man's story. With the exception of Ivanka, who has the merit of not confirming the rule. First of the name among the Trumps to go into business: Frederick Trump, born in 1869 in Kallstadt, Germany. Immigrated to the United States in 1885, he made his fortune in real estate in the west of the country before settling in New York. Rich more than reason, he then founded a family with his wife Elizabeth; three children including Fred Trump, the father of the new president of the United States.
When the head of the family died in 1918, Fred Trump inherited the family fortune, made it fruitful and for a time denied his German origins. Behind the scenes, he prepares to create an empire and create a public persona. Its goal ? Interest the media and investors. His mother, who founded the real estate business "Elizabeth Trump & Son" in 1923, will be helpless when he renames the group "The Trump Organization" in 1971.
A real battle plan
On a personal level, Fred Trump married in 1936 to Mary Anne MacLeod with whom he would have two children: Maryanne Trump Barry - now a federal judge - and Donald Trump. But his obsessions are elsewhere. During World War II, he worked for the Navy and built buildings. An idea came to him: to invest in real estate like his father but ... with a monopoly. The war is over. It is time for him to prepare his battle plan for New York and its surroundings: 2700 apartments on Coney Island in the 1950s, 3800 in 1960. Fred then buys Steeplechase Park, sells it to New York City ... In less than Thirty years, the Trumps fortunes have more than tripled.
In the early 90s, Fred Trump fell ill. Suffering from Alzheimer's disease for six years, the businessman died of pneumonia on June 25, 1999. When he died, the Trump family's fortune was estimated at nearly $ 300 million. Of course, Donald inherits a good part and will continue his father's work. The same gestures, the same business vision, the same love of greenbacks. At the height of this empire created in nearly a century, Donald moved to New York's Fifth Avenue in a three-story loft, now runs several businesses with varying degrees of success - the amount of his fortune is debated. on the other side of the Atlantic - owns multiple buildings such as the great Atlantic City casino and the Trump Taj Mahal and presented a program called "The Apprentice". But the icing on the cake for this extraordinary dynasty, on November 8, 2016, Donald was elected 45th President of the United States against Hillary Clinton. Proving once again that nothing is impossible when your name is Trump. For better and for worse.
