Rapattoni Corporation co-founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board Niki Rapattoni, has died at 86, according to an announcement from the company.
Rapattoni and her late husband, Andy, founded the company in 1970 after Andy left a position at the first computerized real estate multiple listing service (MLS) vendor in the world, Realtron Corporation. For Rapattoni’s first 12 years, Niki worked as a dental hygienist before committing to working full-time alongside Andy, as the duo expanded the firm’s reach into association management tech, integrated website services, hosting and technical support.
Niki Rapattoni
After Andy’s 2015 death, Niki stepped into the CEO role, expanding the company’s reach to include associations representing more than 80 percent of the nation’s Realtors. The CEO also deftly handled a 2023 ransomware attack that took the company offline for nearly two weeks.
Rapattoni President & COO Ralph Hoover said Niki’s “positive spirit and can-do attitude” inspired everyone around her, especially as she battled health challenges over the past few years.
“She had an extraordinary ability to see what needed to be done and then make it happen,” he said in a written statement on Friday. “She lived by the simple principle of doing the right thing, and she never stopped moving forward.”
Beyond their work at Rapattoni, Niki and Andy were passionate patrons of the arts, funding small theater groups throughout Southern California and establishing the Ralph Rapattoni Memorial Watercolor Scholarship at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz. They also created an annual scholarship at their high school alma mater, Chaffey High School in Ontario, California, to support outstanding graduates in the drama department.
Niki also volunteered with the Children’s Service Auxiliary of Ventura County, helping the group host annual drives to provide clothing, toys and other necessities to children in need.
The Rapattoni family said Niki was a talented athlete and artist, co-founding and leading a championship adult precision ice-skating team, The Fabulous Forties. She was a photographer and writer, publishing a 2013 children’s book, Fur-Faced Friends, with her grandchildren, and penning a novel-style memoir for her family detailing her experiences growing up, including moving 11 times before high school and navigating life during World War II.
Niki is survived by her sister, Anita Lucas of Winchester, California; her son, Nicholas Rapattoni of Burbank, California, his wife, and her four grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family asked supporters to donate to the couple’s scholarship fund at Chaffey High School.
“Niki will be remembered for her remarkable energy, determination and positive spirit,” the company said. “She was a woman who believed problems could be solved, people should be treated fairly and that the right thing was always worth doing.”
