Robert Trump's legacy extends beyond his older brother, his ties to the presidency and a real estate empire, or a last name recognizable around the world.
Friends and neighbors in Dutchess County are remembering the 71-year-old as a "renaissance man," living out his retirement years with a generous and gentlemanly nature.
“He is an extremely grateful man,” Dutchess County Sheriff Butch Anderson said Friday of Robert Trump, whom he described as a "personal friend" for more 15 to 20 years. “He gave to a lot of organizations and orphanages, especially for animals. He gave to a lot of children’s’ functions. He was always willing to help the children. That’s where we became friends.”
Robert Trump died Saturday after being hospitalized at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan.
His older brother by two years, President Donald Trump, visited him Friday afternoon. White House officials on Friday said Robert Trump was seriously ill, but did not provide specifics and a cause of death has not been released.
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“It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” Donald Trump said in a statement. “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.”
Robert Trump's ties to the community include involvement in fundraising for local charities; Monte's Local Kitchen & Tap Room, the Amenia restaurant that was owned by his wife, Ann Marie Pallan, before it closed June 22; and Trump National Golf Club, Hudson Valley, in Stormville, which is owned by his brother.
Mindy Levine, who lives part-time in Pawling with her husband, New York Yankees President Randy Levine, called Robert Trump and Pallan close friends.
"He's an extraordinarily fine man," said Mindy Levine said. "He's a throwback to the days when true gentlemen managed their Dutchess County farms with a gentle hand and a kind spirit. He was in many ways a renaissance man, overshadowed by his brother's high profile perhaps, but a force in his own right."
Mindy Levine echoed Anderson's assessment of Robert Trump's giving nature as she spoke of the couple being, "quite philanthropic and for all the right reasons."
Donald and Robert were among five kids raised by Fred and Mary Ann Trump. The oldest, Maryanne Trump Barry, is a retired Federal judge; the oldest son, Fred Jr., died in 1981 due to alcoholism; and the fourth, Elizabeth Trump Grau was an executive in the banking industry. Robert, born in 1948, was the youngest.
A businessman who worked in the Trump organization, Robert Trump had been married to socialite Blaine Trump for two-and-a-half decades but the two divorced more than a decade ago. He married Pallan, his longtime girlfriend earlier this year.
Michael McCormack, Dutchess County's GOP chairman, knew Robert Trump for several years, since he moved to Dutchess County. He described him as a family man who was “down-to-earth,” “genuine” and “community-minded.
“We would be out at his place and we’d get into these conversations about soccer, about the English Premier League, that most people don’t get because they don’t play soccer,” McCormack said, adding that both of them played soccer in college.
McCormack said when his brother, Timothy McCormack, died last year in a New York City helicopter crash, Robert Trump and Pallan provided support.
"He and Ann Marie came to the services and said to me how he understood what I was going through as he lost a brother, too," McCormack said. "He hugged me and said it is horrific losing a brother and I said it definitely is and we teared up."
McCormack called Robert Trump "very compassionate... I'm fortunate and honored to know him as my friend."
Charitable personality
Anderson, who said Robert Trump lived in Millbrook, last saw his friend at the beginning of summer, during a private picnic in Amenia. Robert Trump had asked Anderson how things were going and if he needed help with anything.
“That was usually his opening statement,” Anderson said, adding at the time he didn’t need anything because most functions were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Robert Trump was a supporter of Lucky Orphans Horse Rescue in Dover Plains and in 2017 he joined New York Yankees President Randy Levine and Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro for a fundraiser at Monte's to benefit "Patriots and Ponies." The partnership between the Hudson Valley Hero Project and Lucky Orphans Horse Rescue focused on equine-based psychotherapy to veterans.
Molinaro, in a statement Saturday night, called Robert Trump "a kind and humble man." He said he "did not seek the spotlight, but extended his generosity often anonymously leaving a lasting impact on the lives of many in and around Dutchess County."
Robert Trump's support of the Dutchess community was also illustrated in March 2016. That's when he was among 150 guests on hand as Frank Spano of Amenia, a veteran of World War II, enjoyed a 100th birthday celebration at Monte's. Molinaro, Sen. Sue Serino and Anderson were also in attendance.
“He’s always there to help," Anderson said of Robert Trump. "Whenever I called him, he always helped.”
Village of Millbrook Trustee Joe Rochfort got to know Robert Trump on Sept. 29, 2016, when he and friends were eating at Monte’s.
Robert and Pallan came over to the table where Rochfort’s group was eating to check on their meal, began chatting them up and bought a round of drinks. Rochfort said he ended up chatting at length with Robert Trump and getting a picture taken with him. It started with Robert Trump asking Rochfort who he was, and saying he looked familiar.
“I didn’t know if he was joking,” Rochfort said. “That’s how we started our conversation. We talked about the upcoming election. It was nice, it was lovely. I found them to be just, unassuming, non-pretentious, very gracious.”
Family, professional life mix
Both longtime businessmen, Robert and Donald had strikingly different personalities. Donald Trump once described his younger brother as “much quieter and easygoing than I am,” and “the only guy in my life whom I ever call ‘honey.’”
Robert Trump began his career on Wall Street working in corporate finance but later joined the family business, managing real estate holdings as a top executive in the Trump Organization.
“When he worked in the Trump Organization, he was known as the nice Trump,” Gwenda Blair, a Trump family biographer, told The Associated Press. “Robert was the one people would try to get to intervene if there was a problem.”
The president admittedly bullied his brother in their younger years, even as he praised his loyalty and laid-back demeanor.
“I think it must be hard to have me for a brother but he’s never said anything about it and we’re very close,” Donald Trump wrote in his 1987 bestseller “The Art of the Deal.”
“Robert gets along with almost everyone,” he added, “which is great for me since I sometimes have to be the bad guy.”
In the 1980s, Donald Trump tapped Robert Trump to oversee an Atlantic City casino project, calling him the perfect fit for the job. When it cannibalized his other casinos, though, “he pointed the finger of blame at Robert,” said Blair, author of “The Trumps: Three Generations that Built an Empire.”
“When the slot machines jammed the opening weekend at the Taj Mahal, he very specifically and furiously denounced Robert, and Robert walked out and never worked for his brother again,” Blair said.
A Boston University graduate, Robert Trump later managed the Brooklyn portion of father Fred Trump’s real estate empire, which was eventually sold.
Once a regular boldface name in Manhattan’s social pages, Robert Trump had kept a lower profile in recent years. “He was not a newsmaker,” Blair said.
Before divorcing his first wife, Blaine Trump, more than a decade ago, Robert Trump had been active on Manhattan’s Upper East Side charity circuit.
He avoided the limelight during his elder brother’s presidency, having retired to the Hudson Valley. But he described himself as a big supporter of the White House run in a 2016 interview with the New York Post.
“I support Donald one thousand percent,” Robert Trump said.
McCormack said Robert Trump "was happy to be part of the political scene," noting he "didn't try to push agendas," and was proud of his brother.
In June, Robert Trump filed a lawsuit in Dutchess County Supreme Court on behalf of the Trump family that unsuccessfully sought to stop publication of a tell-all book by his niece, Mary. Robert Trump had reportedly been hospitalized in the intensive care unit for several days that same month.
This article will be updated.
Staff writers Saba Ali and Ryan Santistevan contributed to this article. Information from the Associated Press was used in this article. John W. Barry: jobarry@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4822, Twitter: @JohnBarryPoJo
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