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by GFKjunior 5028 days ago
Besides going to Wharton it helps to inherit a couple hundred million dollars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Trump

1 comments

Wrong. Trump's father did not bankroll his initial ventures. It was rumored that his father helped him out after his first bankruptcy somewhat. Trump's father didn't believe in the angle that Donald was taking much as any old timer typically does. Trump's father did not bankroll him and certainly in no significant way.
It's pretty naïve to think that Fred Trump and his money/influence were not a huge competitive advantage for Donald Trump, even if Fred didn't literally bankroll his projects.
Naive, me? You have got to be kidding.

And what exactly in my comment says that "Fred Trump and his money/influence were not an asset". By the way, Fred had no "influence" in NYC. Did the fact that Fred had a good reputation doing housing in Brooklyn and Queens help Donald? Of course it did. But this was Donald's project and he had to do much as I've said to get it built.

Note this from Fred's obit:

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/26/nyregion/fred-c-trump-post...

"In the mid-70's, Mr. Trump lent support -- and a small amount of money -- to his son Donald's aspirations of becoming a developer. ''But what he lent was mostly knowledge; Donald really did it on his own, along with whatever boost he got from being Fred Trump's son, of course,'' Robert Trump said."

Naive, me? You have got to be kidding.

I don't know you ... I didn't mean to insult you personally. Just engaging in vigorous debate, is all.

That said, I do think it's absurd to imply that having a NYC real estate mogul worth hundreds of millions of dollars for a father wasn't helpful to Donald in becoming, well, a NYC real estate mogul worth hundreds of millions of dollars. If that isn't naïve, it's ... something.

Trump's father did not bankroll him and certainly in no significant way.

For what it's worth, the NY Daily News obit of Fred Trump literally begins with:

Fred Trump, who amassed a fortune building middle-class houses and apartments in Brooklyn and Queens, then helped bankroll son Donald's glamorous foray into Manhattan real estate ....