Maryanne Trump Barry, ex-President Donald Trump’s elder sister, has died at the age of 86, according to US media.
According to ABC News, she was discovered dead in her New York City apartment at 04:00 EST (09:00 GMT) on Monday morning. Her death has not yet been determined.
Mrs Barry was a federal judge in New Jersey from 1983 to 2019, when she retired.
She is the third of Mr. Trump’s four siblings to die.
A spokeswoman for the former president did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.
According to ABC, emergency personnel responded to a report about a person in cardiac arrest. According to the outlet, there were no signs of trauma or foul play.
The cause of death will be determined later by a medical examiner.
Mrs Barry, who avoided the family’s real estate industry, was one of only two female prosecutors in New Jersey’s US Attorney’s Office from 1974 until 1983.
Mrs Barry was nominated as a federal district judge by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, with the assistance of her brother’s infamous lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn.
Mrs Barry stated in her niece Mary’s 2020 biography “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man” that it was “the only favor I ever asked for in my entire life.”
But it was a favor that she claimed Mr Trump never forgot.
“Where would you be without me?” he asked, according to her.
Mrs Barry was appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which includes parts of New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, by President Bill Clinton in 1999.
A New York Times investigation on the Trump family’s tax troubles had resulted in a judicial misconduct investigation into Mrs Barry by 2019. She retired in February, and the investigation was ended without a conclusion.
Mrs Barry married twice, the first time to David Desmond, with whom she had one son, also named David, and the second time to John Joseph Barry, who died in 2000.
She was a close friend of her younger brother, who believed she would be a “phenomenal” pick for the US Supreme Court if she ever ran for president.
However, in a radio interview in 2016, he admitted that the two “have a little bit different views.”
Mrs Barry, a Republican like Mr Trump, avoided the spotlight and never talked publicly about him.
However, their relationship is reported to have taken a turn with the publication of Mary Trump’s book, which was based in part on talks between Mrs Barry and her niece.
Ms Trump, an outspoken critic of her uncle, published audio extracts from these covertly taped talks as she promoted the book.
“All he wants to do is appeal to his base,” Mrs Barry can be heard saying in an audio obtained by the Washington Post. “He lacks principles.” None.”
Mrs Barry is also her telling her niece that she “did [Mr Trump’s] homework for him” and that “when he got into University of Pennsylvania, he had someone take the exams.”
According to ABC, the siblings were beginning to mend wounds and were seen together this summer at the former president’s club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner, lost his brothers Fred and Robert in 1981 and 2020, respectively. Last year, he also lost his first wife, Ivana Trump.
Elizabeth Trump Grau, his sole surviving sister, is a former banker.