I thought John, the prof at MIT, was his uncle.
correct, his Uncle.
It is. He’s Freds brother Their mother was an immigrant and widowed with three children. Fred was oldest at 11 John the youngest at 7. Fred and his mother flipped houses. ( she sent him to trade school while still in high school ). The daughter was sent to school to become a bookkeeper. Mom wanted John to become an archetect but he had other ideas He wanted to be an engineer and Fred agreed to pay for his further college
From widowed grandmother to muktibillionaire in three generations. The American Dream on Steroids