Fred Trump Jr.
Frederick Crist Trump Jr. (October 14, 1938 – September 26, 1981) was the oldest son of real estate developer Fred Trump Sr. and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump in Queens, New York. He grew up in a big, famous family.
He went to St. Paul’s School, then Lehigh University, where he earned a BA in business and joined the ROTC. He also served in the Air National Guard as a second lieutenant. In 1962 he married Linda Clapp, who later worked as a flight attendant. They had two children, Fred Trump III and Mary L. Trump.
Freddy worked for his father’s business at times, but in 1966 he chose to become an airline pilot rather than run the family company. This caused tension with his father and his brother Donald Trump. He left the business to fly for Trans World Airlines, but by the early 1970s his alcoholism made it hard to continue flying, and he returned to work for the family business in maintenance, even living for a while in the attic of his parents’ house.
He died of a heart attack at age 42 on September 26, 1981, with alcohol use contributing to his death. His children, Fred Trump III and Mary L. Trump, would later become critics of Donald Trump. Donald Trump has spoken about his brother’s life, noting that Fred Jr. preferred flying to running the family business.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 16:20 (CET).