Trumps mourn ‘trailblazer’ Ivana at New York funeral
IVANA TRUMP, the 1980s style icon and ex-wife of Donald Trump, was remembered as a “trailblazer” by the former president’s children at her funeral in Manhattan yesterday.
The former president joined his children and about 100 other mourners at the private service at St Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church on the city’s Upper East Side.
In an emotional speech, Ivanka Trump, Ivana’s daughter, said: “Growing up, my mother didn’t tell me a woman could do anything she wanted to – she showed me.”
Holding back tears, she added: “She was a trailblazer by men and women alike.”
In his eulogy, Eric Trump described his mother, who grew up under Communist rule in the former Czechoslovakia, as “the embodiment of the American dream”.
A former model and professional skier, she “could beat any man down the slopes, any woman on the runway”, he said.
“She ruled the three of us with an iron fist but also a heart of gold,” he said regarding himself and his two siblings.
The former president, his wife Melania and their son Barron sat in the first row of the church but did not speak during the service.
Ahead of the funeral, Mr Trump, 76, reflected on his ex-wife’s life in a phone call with Cindy Adams, a New York gossip columnist and long-time friend of Ivana. “She was beautiful. She was special,” Mr Trump said, according to her column in the New York Post.
He added: “A very sad day, but at the same time a celebration of a wonderful and beautiful life.”
Mrs Trump, 73, died after suffering “blunt impact injuries” after a fall down stairs at her New York home on July 15.