US president’s younger brother Robert Trump passes away

NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump’s younger brother, Robert Trump died at the age of 71, on Saturday night after being hospitalized in New York.

According to a statement issued from the president’s office, Donald Trump visited his brother at a New York City hospital on Friday after White House officials said he had become seriously ill.

Robert Trump had reportedly been hospitalized in the intensive care unit for several days that same month. Donald Trump further said in the  statement, “It is with a heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight.”

“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,” he added.

The youngest of the Trump siblings had remained close to the 74-year-old president and, as recently as June, filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Trump family that unsuccessfully sought to stop publication of a tell-all book by the president’s niece, Mary.

Robert Stewart Trump was born in 1948, the youngest of New York City real estate developer Fred Trump’s five children.

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.

In early March of 2020, he married his longtime girlfriend, Ann Marie Pallan. Robert Trump began his career on Wall Street working in corporate finance however, later joined the family business, managing real estate holdings as a top executive in the Trump Organisation.

The president, more than two years older than Robert, admittedly bullied his brother in their younger years, even as he praised his loyalty and laid-back demeanor. Officials did not immediately release a cause of his death.