.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} As of Oct. 1, Dan Rupprecht is no longer president of R&R Realty Group, the company he founded in 1985. He turns 65 this week, and decided at least a year ago that it was time to start the transition to the next generation of leadership.

Mark Rupprecht, 42 years old and one of five children of Dan and Phyllis Rupprecht, now serves as president of the company. He already served as president of Realty Marketing Group, a subsidiary of R&R Realty.

Steve Gaer, who joined R&R as general counsel in April 2004, becomes the chief operating officer and the first board member who is not a part of the Rupprecht family. Gaer became the mayor of West Des Moines last April.

“I decided if it didn’t happen soon, I might pass up the best opportunity I would have to do it,” Dan Rupprecht said. “It’s always important to make it not only through the first generation, but also to handle the transition to the second generation.”

Rupprecht will remain chairman of the R&R board. “I think as time goes by, less and less of my day will be spent in the office. People will probably be suggesting things for me to do,” he joked. “They might be giving me a list of hobbies.”

He and his wife already have been spending the winter months at their home in Arizona. “We’re not going to spend so much time in Arizona that we miss the opportunity to watch our 14 grandchildren grow up,” he said. “Grandchildren grow up even faster than your own children,” and he knows how quickly that goes.

“One day they’re your kids at home running around, and you’re coaching them in Little League baseball, then you watch them go through the process of becoming productive adults,” he said. “You wonder what happened to the time.”