Eric Trump, Donald’s Son: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

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Eric Trump introduces his father, Donald, at a campaign event in Biloxi, Mississippi. (Getty)

Eric Trump has been heavily involved in his father’s presidential campaign, frequently appearing at campaign events and speaking on behalf of Donald on television. The 32-year-old New Yorker is the presidential candidate’s youngest son from his first marriage, and he serves as executive vice president of development and acquisition for the Trump Organization.

According to ABC News, those close to Eric say that he has been providing his father with advice throughout the campaign, though Eric himself admits he’s new to the world of politics.

“The process makes you go out there and see this country,” he told ABC. “I knew nothing about the nuts and bolts of politics before this.”

Here’s what you need to know about Eric and his relationship with his dad:


1. He’s Donald Trump’s 3rd Child With His 1st Wife, Ivana

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Eric Trump is joined by his mother, Ivana Trump, at the 9th Annual Eric Trump Foundation Golf Invitational Auction Dinner. (Getty)

Eric Trump’s mother is Czech socialite and former fashion model Ivana Trump, Donald’s first wife, whom he married in 1977. Eric was Donald’s and Ivana’s third child after Donald Trump Jr., born in 1977, and Ivanka Trump, born in 1981. Donald also has two other children, Tiffany and Baron, from his second and third marriages respectively.

For much of the three kids’ childhoods, Time reports that neither Donald nor Ivana were very present in the their lives, and the children were constantly in the company of nannies, security guards and Ivana’s parents, Milos and Maria Zelnicek. According to New York Magazine, Milos and Maria lived with the family for six months of the year. Eric told The New York Times that his older brother, Donald Trump Jr., also helped to raise him. “Donnie’s always been my best friend, a mentor,” he explained. “In a way, he raised me. My father, I love and I appreciate, but he always worked 24 hours a day.”

Eric was six years old when his parents divorced, and Ivana gained full custody. She said in an interview that she raised the kids herself until they went off to college, after which Ivana says she “gave them” to Donald, who then provided all three with positions within the Trump organization.


2. He Went to a Strict Boarding School in Pennsylvania

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Eric Trump and his wife, Lara, greet volunteers at Donald Trump’s New Hampshire campaign office. (Getty)

During their childhoods, all three of Donald Trump’s kids were constantly surrounded by media coverage of their parents’ messy divorce, which was difficult for them to take. Eric told New York Magazine that although he didn’t fully realize what was going on due to his age, he still remembers friends bringing him newspaper articles about his own parents’ separation. When they got older, then, the kids were all sent to boarding schools as a way of sheltering them from the constant media attention. In Eric’s case, he attended the extremely strict Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

One of Ivanka’s friends explained to New York Magazine that although some kids from dysfunctional families are sent to boarding school so their parents can be rid of them, the Trumps did so “with love instead of being like, ‘Get lost. Go to Choate, and don’t call us.’ It was more a way of protecting them.”

After graduation, Eric continued to serve on the Hill School’s board of trustees until 2013. Although his older brother went to Wharton, Eric chose to attend Georgetown University, where he graduated in 2006 with a degree in finance and management.


3. He Runs the Trump Organization’s Golf Assets & Winery

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Eric Trump poses with Martin Ebert, designer of the Ailsa Championship Golf Course, at the Trump Turnberry Resort. (Getty)

Eric, Donald Jr. and Ivanka Trump are all executive vice presidents of the Trump Organization, but each child has his or her own specialty. One of Eric’s focuses is the company’s golf assets. He joined the organization in 2013, and since then, he has expanded Trump’s golf courses from three to 17 located all over the world, from New York to Ireland and Scotland.

Evidently, though, his father is still rather hands-on when it comes to the golf business. Recently, the Trump Organization spent over $50 million redesigning one of their courses in Doonbeg, and Eric said that Donald was often on the phone with him to ask questions.

Eric explained to the Irish Times, “I was on the phone [with] him earlier for 20 minutes and he was asking: ‘How is [hole] four looking? How is six? How is 18?’ He was very envious of me being here.”

Eric also oversees the Trump Winery, which Donald has said is the largest winery on the East Coast. That’s true in terms of acres, although according to the Virginia Wine Board, it’s not actually the largest in terms of sales. Still, due to his work in this field, Eric Trump received the Rising Star of the Year award from Wine Enthusiast Magazine in 2013.

Celebritynetworth.com estimates Trump’s net worth to be about $150 million.


4. His Wife, Lara, Is a Producer for CBS

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Eric Trump and his wife, Lara, pose with their dog, Charlie, at the Elvis Trumps Cancer Walk in New York City. (Getty)

Eric Trump’s wife is Lara Trump, formerly Lara Yunaska, the associate producer of CBS’ Inside Edition. She and Eric dated for six years before he proposed at the Trump Seven Springs estate in Bedford, New York. The two were married in 2014 at the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. More than 400 friends and family members attended the ceremony; Ivanka’s husband, Jared Kushner, officiated.

Before becoming a journalist, Lara worked as a personal trailer, and she is still a nutrition and fitness enthusiast, regularly participating in marathons and other rigorous activities. In fact, she broke both her wrists in a horseback riding accident just two weeks before her wedding. Lara wrote on Instagram at the time, “There are inherent risks that we all take in life. When you truly love something, it’s worth it…I will ride again and it will be better than ever.”

Though the couple does not have children, they do have a dog named Charlie, who is often popping up on Lara’s and Eric’s social media pages.


5. He Has Raised Millions of Dollars for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital

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Eric Trump and radio host Elvis Duran raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital at the Elvis Trumps Cancer Walk. (Getty)

The New York Observer, in 2013 named Eric Trump one of the 20 most important young philanthropists. (Jared Kushner, Eric’s brother-in-law, is the publisher of the Observer.) That’s because in 2006, when Eric was 23-years-old, he founded the Eric Trump Foundation, which has donated close to $30 million to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in California, according to Inside Philanthropy. The foundation’s website states that its mission is “to advance the medical and emotional needs of terminally-ill children and demand that our monetary donations are transformed into real results at St. Jude.”

In 2015, Eric’s foundation financed a $20 million project to build The Eric Trump Foundation Surgical and ICU Center at St. Jude’s.

“Cancer research and treatment is expensive and cannot be done without substantial financing, which is why it’s so important to support their efforts,” he told Town and Country. “Doing so has become a major facet of my life and one in which I am incredibly passionate.”