Page 5 - Donald Trump: 45th US President

Elizabeth Trump & Son

After Friedrich’s death his wife, Elizabeth, took over the family’s real
estate business. Although Fred Trump was only thirteen years old,
he had developed a strong interest in the
building trades. Th is prompted his mother “My dad, Fred Trump
to form a new real estate company that she . . . was a guy most
called Elizabeth Trump & Son. Fred took comfortable in the
an active role and built and sold his fi rst company of bricklay-
home when he was only seventeen. He used ers, carpenters, and
the profi ts to buy, build, and sell a num- electricians.” 5
ber of homes, increasing his wealth as the
population of Queens more than doubled — Donald Trump
between 1920 and 1930. Many years later,

Donald described his father this way: “My dad, Fred Trump, was the
smartest and hardest working man I ever knew. . . . He was a guy
most comfortable in the company of bricklayers, carpenters, and elec-
tricians and I have a lot of that in me also.” 5
In 1935, thirty-year-old Fred
Trump met Mary Anne MacLeod at
a party in Queens. MacLeod, who
was from a small village in the Out-
er Hebrides in the far north of Scot-
land, was twenty-three years old and
working as a maid. Trump and Mac-
Leod fell in love and were married
in January 1936. In 1937 Mary gave
birth to their fi rst child, Maryanne,
followed by Frederick Jr. in 1938.

Donald Trump’s father, Frederick
“Fred” Trump (pictured in 1987),
amassed a fortune in real estate. He
developed sales techniques that were
considered both brash and bold.

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