This article is about Donald Trump, Sr. For his son, see Donald Trump, Jr.
For other uses of "Donald Trump", see Donald Trump (disambiguation).
Donald John Trump, Sr. (born June 14, 1946) is an American business magnate, investor,[7] television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts.[1] Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner, and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have made him a well-known celebrity who was No. 17 on the 2011 Forbes Celebrity 100 list.[2]
Considered one of best known real estate entrepreneurs in the United States, Trump is the son of Fred Trump, a wealthy New York City real-estate developer.[8] He worked for his father's firm, Elizabeth Trump & Son, while attending the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1968 officially joined the company.[9] He was given control of the company in 1971 and renamed it The Trump Organization.[10][11]
In 2010, Trump expressed an interest in becoming a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election,[12][13] though in May 2011, he announced he would not be a candidate.[14][15] Trump was a featured speaker at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).[16] In 2013, Trump spent over $1 million to research a possible run for president of the United States in 2016.[17][18]
Early life and education
Trump was born in Queens, New York City, New York. He is a son of Fred Trump, and his wife, Mary Anne (MacLeod), who married in 1936. His mother was born on the Isle of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland.[19] Donald was one of five children. Donald's oldest brother, Fred Jr., died in 1981 at the age of 43.[20] Trump's paternal grandparents were German immigrants.[21] His grandfather, Frederick Trump (né Friedrich Drumpf), emigrated to the United States in 1885 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1892. Frederick married Elisabeth Christ (October 10, 1880 – June 6, 1966)[22] at Kallstadt, Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, on August 26, 1902. They had three children.
Trump attended The Kew-Forest School, Forest Hills, New York, as did some of his siblings. At age 13 after having some difficulties there, his parents sent him to the New York Military Academy (NYMA), hoping to direct his energy and assertiveness in a positive manner.[23] At NYMA, in upstate New York, Trump earned academic honors, and played varsity football in 1962, varsity soccer in 1963, and varsity baseball from 1962 to 1964 (baseball captain 1964). The baseball coach, Ted Dobias, a local celebrity for his work with area youth, awarded him the Coach's Award in 1964. Promoted to Cadet Captain-S4 (Cadet Battalion Logistics Officer) in his senior year, Trump and Cadet First Sergeant Jeff Donaldson (NYMA class of 1965; West Point 1969) formed a composite company of cadets, taught them advanced close-order drill, and marched them down Fifth Avenue on Memorial Day, 1964.
Trump attended Fordham University for two years before transferring to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science in economics.[24] In his book, Trump: The Art of the Deal, Trump discusses his undergraduate career:
After I graduated from the New York Military Academy in 1964, I flirted briefly with the idea of attending film school ... but in the end I decided real estate was a much better business. I began by attending Fordham University ... but after two years, I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best. I applied to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and I got in ... I was also very glad to get finished. I immediately moved back home and went to work full time with my father.[citation needed]
Personal life
Donald Trump at a press conference in 2008.
Melania Knauss-Trump
Trump is popularly known as The Donald, a nickname perpetuated by the media after his first wife Ivana Trump, a native of the Czech Republic, referred to him as such in an interview.[25]
While it has been reported that he does not shake hands because of fear of germs,[26] he claims this is "a rumor that the enemies say", and shook hands repeatedly in public during a visit to New Hampshire in April 2011.[27] Trump is a golfer, with a low single-figure handicap. He is a member of the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, and plays regularly at the other courses he owns and operates.[28]
Trump's mother, Mary Anne, was born in 1912 at Tong, Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, off the coast of Scotland, United Kingdom. In 1930, aged 18, on a holiday in New York, she met Fred Trump and stayed in New York. Born in Queens, New York,[29] Trump has four siblings: two brothers, Fred, Jr. (who is deceased) and Robert S. Trump; and two sisters, Maryanne and Elizabeth. His older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, is a federal appeals court judge.
In 1977, Trump married Ivana Zelníčková and together they have three children: Donald, Jr. (born December 31, 1977), Ivanka (born October 30, 1981), and Eric (born January 6, 1984). They were divorced in 1992. In 1993, he married Marla Maples and together they had one child, Tiffany (born October 13, 1993). They divorced on June 8, 1999. In a February 2008 interview on ABC's news program Nightline, Trump commented on his ex-wives by saying, "I just know it's very hard for them (Ivana and Marla) to compete because I do love what I do. I really love it."
On April 26, 2004, he proposed to Melania Knauss (Melanija Knavs), a native of Slovenia. Trump and Knauss married on January 22, 2005, at Bethesda by the Sea Episcopal Church, on the island of Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a reception at Trump's Mar-A-Lago estate.[30] Melania gave birth to a boy named Barron William Trump, Trump's fifth child, on March 20, 2006.
Trump has five grandchildren. Four from his son Donald Jr. (Kai Madison,[31] Donald John III,[32] Tristan Milos,[33] and Spencer Frederick) and one from his daughter Ivanka (Arabella Rose[34][35]).
Trump has stated in interviews that he is a Presbyterian. In April 2011 on Human Events, he said that he is "a Presbyterian within the Protestant group".[6] In an April 2011 interview, on the 700 Club, Trump said, "I'm a Protestant, I'm a Presbyterian. And you know I've had a good relationship with the church over the years. I think religion is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion."[36][37] A 2010 article in The Daily Telegraph stated that Trump was Catholic.[38] A February 2011 Politics Daily article described Trump as "apparently a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, which is a Presbyterian denomination".[39] Andrew Cusack in 2008 stated that Donald Trump is a member of New York City's Marble Collegiate Church. Explaining that church's organizational relationships, Cusack says "the Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church is actually a denomination within a denomination" and that the Collegiate Churches are "now part of the Reformed Church of America".[40] Marble Collegiate Church also states that it is denominationally affiliated with the Reformed Church in America,[41] with the RCA website stating that the RCA has a local church "presbyterian form of government".[42] Trump does not drink alcohol.[43]
In September 2010, Trump expressed on Anderson Cooper's show on CNN, his "suspicions of ulterior motives at the imam running the project" known as Park51, claiming the imam was "using religion" (meaning Islam) to get a good price for the real estate.[44] He also appeared on Fox's Hannity, and said much the same.[45] Trump was quoted by the New York Post that, while he "is a 'big believer in freedom of religion,' ... his personal opinion was that the mosque should not be built close to Ground Zero ...". After Trump offered in a letter to buy the two-building site for more than $6 million in order to end the general controversy, the lawyers for the majority stakeholder, according to the Post, criticized "Trump's letter offering to buy the site as a publicity stunt".[46]
Business career
Real estate developments
Trump began his career at his father's company,[47] Elizabeth Trump and Son,[48] which focused on middle-class rental housing in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. One of Trump's first projects, while he was still in college, was the revitalization of the foreclosed Swifton Village apartment complex in Cincinnati, Ohio, which his father had purchased for $5.7 million in 1962. Trump became intimately involved in the project and with a $500,000 investment, turned the 1200-unit complex with a 66 percent vacancy rate to 100 percent occupancy within two years. In 1972 the Trump Organization sold Swifton Village for $6.75 million.[49]
In 1971 Trump moved to Manhattan and became involved in larger building projects and utilized attractive architectural design to win public recognition.[8] He made plans to acquire and develop the old Penn Central for $60 million with no money down.[50] Later, with the help of a 40-year tax abatement from the New York City government, he turned the bankrupt Commodore Hotel into the Grand Hyatt [51] and created The Trump Organization.[52]
The New York City government had a plan to build the Javits Convention Center on property Trump held a right to buy option. Trump estimated his company could have completed the project for $110 million [53] but the city rejected his offer and Trump received a broker's fee on the sale of the property instead. The Wollman Rink in Central Park, was started in 1980 with an expected 2½-year construction schedule but was nowhere near completion by 1986. Trump took over the management of the project, at no cost to the city, and completed it in six months using $750,000 of the remaining $3 million budget.[54]
Trump renovated the Trump Tower in New York City and Atlantic City casino business, including acquiring the Taj Mahal Casino in a transaction with Merv Griffin and Resorts International.[55]
This expansion, both personal and business, led to mounting debt.[56] Much of the news about him in the early 1990s involved his much publicized financial problems, creditor-led bailout, extramarital affair with Marla Maples (whom he later married), and the resulting divorce from his first wife, Ivana Trump.
By 1989, poor business decisions left Trump unable to meet loan payments. Trump financed the construction of his third casino, the $1 billion Taj Mahal, primarily with high-interest junk bonds. Although he shored up his businesses with additional loans and postponed interest payments, by 1991 increasing debt brought Trump to business bankruptcy[56] and the brink of personal bankruptcy. Banks and bond holders had lost hundreds of millions of dollars, but opted to restructure his debt to avoid the risk of losing more money in court. The Taj Mahal re-emerged from bankruptcy on October 5, 1991, with Trump ceding 50 percent ownership in the casino to the original bondholders in exchange for lowered interest rates on the debt and more time to pay it off.[57]
The late 1990s saw a resurgence in his financial situation and fame. In 2001, he completed Trump World Tower, a 72-story residential tower across from the United Nations Headquarters.[58] Also, he began construction on Trump Place, a multi-building development along the Hudson River. Trump owns commercial space in Trump International Hotel and Tower, a 44-story mixed-use (hotel and condominium) tower on Columbus Circle. Trump currently[when?] owns several million square feet of prime Manhattan real estate,[59] and remains a major figure in the field of real estate in the United States and a celebrity for his prominent media exposures.
Trump has several projects under way, with varying levels of success in their progress. The Trump International Hotel and Tower – Honolulu seems to be a success. According to Trump, buyers paid non-refundable deposits, committing to purchase every unit on the first day they were made available. Construction of the Trump International Hotel and Tower – Chicago seems to be proceeding as planned, although 30 percent of the units remain unsold. The Trump International Hotel and Tower – Toronto has had a series of delays and a height reduction. The Trump Tower – Tampa has been quite controversial because the initial sales were so successful that all deposits were returned in order to charge a higher price. Three years after construction of this controversial development began, construction has delayed and lawsuits have been filed. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one Trump construction project was put on hold in favor of another (Trump International Hotel and Tower – Fort Lauderdale). Meanwhile, Trump Towers – Atlanta is being developed in a housing market having the nation's second-highest inventory of unsold homes.[60]
In its October 7, 2007 Forbes 400 issue, "Acreage Aces", Forbes valued Trump's wealth at $3.0 billion.[61] Since 2011, his net worth has been estimated from $2.9 billion to $7 billion.[2][62]
Legal affairs
In March 1990, Trump threatened to sue Janney Montgomery Scott, a stock brokerage firm, whose analyst had made negative comments on the financial prospects of Taj Mahal. The analyst refused to retract the statements, and was fired by his firm.[63] Taj Mahal declared bankruptcy for the first time in November 1990.[64] A defamation lawsuit by the analyst against Trump for $2 million was settled out of court.[65] On November 2, 1992, the Trump Plaza Hotel filed a prepackaged Chapter 11 protection plan. Under the plan, Trump agreed to give up a 49 percent stake in the luxury hotel to Citibank and five other lenders. In return Trump would receive more favorable terms on the remaining $550+ million owed to the lenders, and retain his position as chief executive, though he would not be paid and would not have a role in day-to-day operations.[66]
By 1994, Trump had eliminated a large portion of his $900 million personal debt[67] and reduced significantly his nearly $3.5 billion in business debt. While he was forced to relinquish the Trump Shuttle (which he had bought in 1989), he managed to retain Trump Tower in New York City and control of his three casinos in Atlantic City. Chase Manhattan Bank, which lent Trump the money to buy the West Side yards, his biggest Manhattan parcel, forced the sale of the tract to Asian developers. According to former members of the Trump Organization, Trump did not retain any ownership of the site's real estate – the owners merely promised to give him about 30 percent of the profits once the site was completely developed or sold. Until that time, the owners of The West Side Yards gave him modest construction and management fees to oversee the development, and allowed him to put his name on the buildings that eventually rose on the yards because his well-known moniker allowed them to charge a premium for their condos.[68]
Trump was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame in 1995.[69] In 1995, he combined his casino holdings into the publicly held Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts. Wall Street drove its stock above $35 in 1996, but by 1998 it had fallen into single digits as the company remained profitless.
In January 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought a financial-reporting case against Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc., alleging that it had committed several "misleading statements in the company's third-quarter 1999 earnings release." The matter was settled with the defendant neither admitting nor denying the charge.[70]
Finally, on October 21, 2004, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts announced a restructuring of its debt.[71] The plan called for Trump's individual ownership to be reduced from 56 percent to 27 percent, with bondholders receiving stock in exchange for surrendering part of the debt. Since then, Trump Hotels has been forced to seek voluntary bankruptcy protection to stay afloat. After the company applied for Chapter 11 Protection in November 2004, Trump relinquished his CEO position but retained a role as Chairman of the Board. In May 2005[72] the company re-emerged from bankruptcy as Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings.[73]
Lender Deutsche Bank refused to let Trump lower the prices on the units to spur sales. Arguing that the financial crisis and resulting drop in the real estate market is due to circumstances beyond his control, Trump invoked a clause in the contract to not pay the loan.[74] Trump then initiated a suit asserting that his image had been damaged. Both parties agreed to drop their suits, and sale of the units is nearly complete.[75]
On February 17, 2009 Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; Trump stating on February 13 that he would resign from the board.[76] Trump Entertainment Resorts has three properties in Atlantic City.
