Who were Donald Trump's parents? Fred Trump was an American construction mogul who began his career as a teen, while Mary Anne MacLeod was a Scottish immigrant who worked as a ‘domestic servant'
He's a reality TV star turned controversial, two-term president of the United States of America, which means that every move
Donald Trump makes is heavily scrutinised.
And while
his current marriage , business dealings and political dramas are all regular public fodder, what do we know about his past – specifically his late parents?
Born to construction mogul Fred Trump and Scottish immigrant Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, Donald Trump is one of five children.
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Mary Trump and Fred Trump attending the PAL dinner in 1987, at New York's Plaza Hotel.
Millionaire real estate developer Fred Trump died in 1999 at 93, while his wife, Mary Anne MacLeod, who died a year later, aged 88, was originally a poor Scottish immigrant who went to New York in search of work as a 'domestic servant'. She became one of
New York's richest residents after her marriage.
Here's the story of the Trumps.
Fred Trump: the patriarch
Donald Trump with his parents, Fred and Mary.
Frederick Christ Trump Sr was born in New York in 1905. He was just 15 and still at school when he started his own construction company. According to The New York Times, he focused on building car garages and his mother, Elizabeth, acted as his business partner, since he was legally too young to sign business documents.
Money moves
Fred Trump. Photo: Handout
Fred turned his attention to building low- to medium-income housing in Queens and Brooklyn after World War II. His meteoric rise in the construction world saw him build more than 27,000 apartments in the two boroughs, with The New York Times calling him 'one of New York City's major postwar builders'.
Despite his enormous wealth, Fred was described as a 'frugal' man by those who knew him. His one luxury was his car: a navy blue Cadillac that was meticulously maintained and replaced every three years. At the time of his death his estate was estimated to be worth US$300 million.
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