Trump Megadonor Gave $5.5 Million Estate to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Anti-Vaccine Group

Timothy Mellon, a reclusive banking heir who was one of President Trump’s and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s biggest financial backers in the 2024 election, gave two sprawling properties in Connecticut last year to Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group Mr. Kennedy founded.

The donation, which has not previously been reported, shows how tightly intertwined Mr. Mellon has become with Mr. Kennedy and their shared work against vaccines. The adjacent parcels cover about 300 acres at the confluence of the Connecticut and Eightmile Rivers in Lyme and feature a pool, a tennis court and several buildings, property records show.

The properties were appraised this year at a total of $5.5 million. It is not clear what Children’s Health Defense, which is based in New Jersey, plans to do with them. Mr. Mellon, 83, has talked with pride about building the estate. In a self-published autobiography in 2014, he wrote about his plans for the land.

“I will not make such a contribution to groups like the Nature Conservancy or Sierra Club because I have little confidence that they, unlike say the state of Connecticut, will be around forever,” Mr. Mellon wrote.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/business/economy/mellon-kennedy-childrens-health-defense.html