Robert Trump, the younger brother of President Donald Trump, died Saturday evening at a New York hospital, the White House confirmed. Trump was 71. He was admitted to New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan in June for an undisclosed serious condition, CNN reports.
“It is with a heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” the president said in a statement released by the White House. “He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. 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.”
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The details of Trump’s illness were not released. A source told CNN he was sick for several months. President Trump also declined to disclose the details of his brother’s illness when he spoke to reporters on Friday. The president visited the Manhattan hospital on Friday before heading to New Jersey this weekend.
“I have a wonderful brother. We have a great relationship for a long time, from day one, so long time ago. And he’s in the hospital right now,” President Trump told the media Friday. “Hopefully he’ll be alright, but he’s — he’s pretty — he’s having a hard time.” The president later said his brother was “having a tough time.”
A close friend of the Trump family told the New York Times the younger Trump suffered brain bleeds after a recent fall. The family friend said Trump could not speak over the phone.
Unlike his older brother, Trump did not like to live in the spotlight. He did not have any children but helped raise Christopher Hollister Trump-Retchin, the son of his first wife, Blaine Trump. In addition to President Trump, he is survived by his second wife Ann Marie Pallan and sisters Maryanne Trump Barry and Elizabeth Trump Grau. His brother Fred Trump Jr. died in 1981.
Trump was a graduate of Boston University and worked on Wall Street before joining the Trump family business. He worked as a senior executive under the future president at the Trump Organization, overseeing their Atlantic City casinos. In June, he joined the president in trying to block the publication of Too Much an Never Enough, the tell-all book by Fred Trump Jr.’s daughter Mary Trump. He told the New York Times he was “deeply disappointed” that his niece published the book and filed an injunction to stop it from being released.
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401869 01: Robert William Pickton is shown in this undated image from a television screen. Pickton and his brother operated a drinking club frequented by bikers and prostitutes near their pig farm outside Vancouver, Canada. Pickton was arrested February 22, 2002 and charged with first-degree murder in connection with two of the 50 women who have disappeared from the Vancouver area in the past two decades.
