Donald Trump was born into wealth and would spend most of his life getting his family name into the public eye through being a businessman, personality and President of the United States. This is a brief timeline of the life of the man who would have his businesses declare bankruptcy 6 times and yet remain known as a billionaire.
1946 – Donald is born the fourth child to real estate tycoon Fred Trump in Queens, New York, U.S.A. His mother is an immigrant from Scotland. They live in an upscale community. He would later have a younger brother.
Age 13 – For misbehaving in school, he is sent off to a military academy. He does well there, becoming a star athlete and student leader.
Age 18 – He graduates from the military academy and enrols into Fordham University. In summer, he works at his father’s real estate business, then uses college and medical reasons to get out of having to fight the Vietnam War.
Age 22 – He transfers to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania and graduates with a degree in economics. He joins the family business.
Age 25 – Trump takes over his father’s company—Elizabeth Trump & Son—and renames it Trump Organization.
Age 27 – The Justice Department alleges that the Trump Organization discriminates against African Americans wanting to rent apartments from them. The Trump Organization agrees to rent more apartments to African Americans and buys more property in other parts of the U.S.A.
Age 30 – Trump takes over the bankrupt Commodore Hotel and develops it into the Grand Hyatt. He gets a 40-year city tax abatement for this project.
Age 31 – Trump marries model Ivana Winklmayr. He makes her vice president of design in the Trump Organization. His first child Donald Jr is born.
Age 33 – Trump builds Trump Plaza (an apartment) and Trump Tower (an apartment and luxury shopping centre) with The Equitable.
Age 34 – Trump opens the Grand Hyatt New York. He builds a casino in Atlantic City in partnership with Holiday Inns Corporation called Harrah’s at Trump Plaza.
Age 35 – Trump’s brother, a pilot, dies of alcoholism at age 43. Because of that, Trump decides never to drink alcohol or take drugs. His second child Ivanka is born.
Age 38 – His third child Eric is born.
Age 39 – His businesses lose money for the year. They will continue to lose money for the next 9 years. He buys over Holiday Inn’s share of Harrah’s at Trump Plaza and renames it Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. He then buys over a Hilton Hotel casino and renames it Trump’s Castle. He also buys a resort in Florida called Mar-a-Lago Club and puts his wife in charge of running the property.
Age 40 – Trump takes over the rebuilding of the Wollman Rink in Central Park and gets a lot of publicity for doing so while simultaneously screwing over the contractor who did it for him for free. He buys over The Equitable’s stake in Trump Tower.
Age 41 – He publishes The Art of the Deal about how he successfully makes business deals. 1-4m copies of this book will be sold.
Age 42 – He acquires The Plaza Hotel.
Age 44 – Trump divorces Ivana, telling a reporter that he “doesn’t want to be married to a woman who’s had children.” His 3rd casino—the Trump Taj Mahal—opens and costs him a large amount of debt.
Age 45 – The Taj Mahal declares bankruptcy and Trump has to sell his airline, yacht and large portions of his casino holdings.
Age 46 – His other 2 casinos declare bankruptcy, and The Plaza Hotel in New York too.
Age 47 – Trump’s 4th child, Tiffany is born. He marries her mother, actress Marla Maples 3 months later.
Age 49 – He forms a publicly traded company called Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts to protect himself from personal liability. He buys and renovates The Trump Building. Trump’s businesses finally stop losing money.
Age 50 – He becomes the owner of numerous beauty pageants including Miss Universe.
Age 51 – He files for divorce from Marla Maples. His father transfers ownership of his buildings to his 4 surviving children, including Donald.
Age 53 – Trump’s father dies and leaves behind an estate of $250-300m.
Age 54 – Trump runs for president as a Reform Party candidate. Trump’s mother dies.
Age 55 – He completes Trump World Tower and begins construction on Trump Place. He then plans to build Trump International Tower in Chicago as the tallest building in the world, but after 9/11, changes his mind and decides to make it the second tallest building in Chicago.
Age 57 – The Apprentice—a reality show where contestants compete to work in Trump’s organisation—begins broadcast. Trump will go on to host the show for 14 seasons and get paid $213m for it. He also begins selling his name to real-estate businesses not built by himself and will end up with 30 such properties worldwide.
Age 58 – Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts goes into bankruptcy. Trump and his siblings sell their father’s apartments for $700m.
Age 59 – Trump marries model Melania Knauss. He opens Trump University to offer courses in real estate, asset management, and wealth creation. The “University” is notified by New York State authorities that the word “university” in the business violates state law.
Age 60 – His fifth child, Barron William Trump is born.
Age 63 – Trump Entertainment Resorts declares bankruptcy again but Trump International Tower in Chicago is doing well. Trump gets on Twitter but his tweets are mostly written by his staff.
Age 64 – Trump Organization takes over the management of the Central Park Carousel. Trump University is renamed Trump Entrepreneurial Institute after authorities alert them of the violation of the word “university” again.
Age 65 – Trump buys a winery in Charlottesville, Virginia. He starts using Twitter more, writing more tweets of his own. He joins the “birther” movement questioning whether Barack Obama was born in the U.S. Civil lawsuits related to Trump University are filed in court claiming that Donald Trump and his companies made false claims and defrauded consumers.
Age 69 – Trump runs for president again, this time as a Republican. After he makes anti-immigrant remarks, NBCUniversal, NBC and Univision severe their contracts with him, bringing an end to The Apprentice and forcing him to sell his beauty pageants.
Age 70 – During the campaign, it is discovered that Trump’s real estate empire is $650m in debt. Trump defeats Hillary Clinton in the elections and is elected President of the United States. He hands the running of Trump Organization to his sons Donald Jr and Eric but keeps a stake. His lawsuits related to Trump University are finally settled.
Age 71 – Trump is sworn in as president of the United States.
2020 – Trump is presently 74 and is still the president of the United States.
Also available at Amazon.sg
LUCK-IT will receive a tiny commission when you purchase these products, at no additional cost to you.
More life summaries available here.
Photographs: Seth Poppel, Yearbook Library. Compiler: Sy
Sponsor or support the Life Summary series here.
If you found this article useful: