Donald Trump’s brother Robert has died aged 71

Robert Trump, the younger brother of President Donald Trump, passed away over the weekend at the age of 71.

The news was confirmed in a statement issued by Trump via the White House after he visited his brother in hospital.

Who was Robert Trump?

Robert Trump is the younger brother of President Donald Trump, who passed away on Saturday 15 August, 2020.

Trump had been called to the hospital the day before his death, telling reporters: “He’s having a hard time.”

The cause of Robert’s death is unclear and has not been officially announced.

Robert was the youngest of the Trump siblings and was born in 1948 to Fred and Mary Anne Trump, two years after Donald Trump was born.

Robert was a businessman who attended Boston University, and served as an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, with part of his duties involving overseeing the organisation’s Atlantic City casinos.

He also served on the board of ZeniMax Media, a company which produced video games like Doom, Rage and Fallout.

In 1980, Robert married Blaine Beard. The two were married until 2007, when they divorced.

Robert remarried in March 2020 to Ann Marie Pallan.

Michael D’Antonio, a Trump biographer, described Robert as “the quietest of Trumps”, adding: “He was glad to stay out of the spotlight.”

While Robert did not experience as much media spotlight as his older brother, he did appear in the news earlier this year when his niece Mary Trump published a tell-all book about the Trump family, titled Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

Robert had requested a temporary restraining order in an effort to stop the book from being published, but it went ahead.

In a statement to the New York Times, Robert said: “Her attempt to sensationalise and characterise 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.

“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.”