My only interaction with Donald Trump.

In 1989, I had the great pleasure of giving the 6th grade class of the Buckley School a tour of my gallery with an emphasis on the lithographs and aquatints that illustrated the iconography of the Upper Plains between 1832 and 1845.  These works of art by Bodmer and Catlin were the first to show what Lewis and Clark had seen during their travels there between May 1804 and September 1806.  

At this time the Buckley school was the top school in Manhattan with many of the children of my very best clients attending. They were super bright and it was fun interacting with them discussing the connection.

1989 was the 10th year that this field trip occurred and it always elegantly finished up with well written thank you letters that arrived a few days later.

In 1989 there was one particular letter that stood out - one that said that it was the best lecture ever in the best gallery in New York City with the best art imaginable given by the best teacher he had ever met.  And, yes, it was signed by Donald Trump.  It immediately struck me that the son of Donald Trump was using the same hyperbole and exaggeration as his father.

So being the aggressive salesman that I am I sent it to the senior Donald Trump with a note that suggested he visit the gallery to see if his son was correct.

A week later the extremely distressed mother of a Buckley student who had first proposed this idea in 1980 called to tell me that the Headmaster of the Buckley School had taken her to task for introducing the Buckley School to someone who had allowed Donald Trump's privacy to be violated.  It seems that Trump had angrily called the Headmaster to say that he had been distressed and shocked to receive the letter that had been written by his son.  The Headmaster told my friend that the trips to my gallery would immediately be discontinued forever. 

It took my friend over 5 years to forgive me and in the end a great part of the trust that we had with each other was lost.   

And I was deeply saddened that these young men would never make their visit to my gallery again.

The pain of this increased dramatically when my friend told me a month later that Donald Trump had written to all the parents of the whole Buckley School telling them they would get special pricing on the Trump Shuttle that he had just established. 

So much for privacy!  

What a phony.