Ribis's Italian immigrant parents taught him to be tightfisted, but it was the Donald who introduced him to dealmaking. As a kid in the New Jersey suburbs, Ribis rose before dawn to count the empty soda bottles at the family deli "so the suppliers couldn't cheat my mom on the deposits." When Trump faced bankruptcy in 1989, he turned to the team of Ribis and Steve Bollenbach, now CEO of Hilton Hotels, to fend off the banks and bondholders. Ribis helped persuade creditors to let Trump keep his trophy holding: his casinos. It was the gaming company's IPO in 1995, orchestrated by Ribis, that restored Trump's wealth.