Niki Rapattoni passed away last night. Our prayers go out to her family and all of her employees. Niki was the heart and soul of Rapattoni Corporation, living every day to deliver the legacy of the company she and her husband built. 

In 1970, Niki and her partner Andy founded Rapattoni Corporation in Southern California. They spent the next four decades building it into one of the most trusted names in real estate technology: MLS software and association management systems serving hundreds of associations and hundreds of thousands of agents across the country. The company’s tagline was “Setting the Standard.” For more than fifty years, that is exactly what they did.

Andy called Niki his right hand in every decision the company made for four decades. Her gift was the human side of the business: the culture inside the building, the growth of the people who worked there, the expansion from a small facility to a 30,000-square-foot headquarters. The software got the headlines. Niki built the company that built the software. Their love for each other and the company came through in every decision they made. 

When Andy passed away in 2015, Niki stepped into the CEO’s chair and formed an executive team to carry the company forward. She led Rapattoni through its 50th anniversary and through the hardest chapters any technology company faces. Through it all, she remained what she had always been to this industry: a faithful partner to  the MLSs and Realtor associations that run on Rapattoni systems. She was never just a vendor. She treated her customers and employees like family. 

In an industry that now talks about platforms and ecosystems, Niki belonged to an older and better tradition: show up, keep your promises, take care of your people, and stand by your partners for decades, not quarters, through thick and thin.

The company she leaves behind is in great shape. And her spirit will endure: with every association office that opens its doors in the morning on systems she helped create, every agent who relies on it to do business, and with every person she mentored along the way.

Rest in peace, Niki. Thank you for Setting the Standard.

Niki Rapattoni, co-founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Rapattoni Corporation, died on October 8th at her home in Westlake Village, California, at the age of 86 after several years of health challenges, which she faced with characteristic determination and spirit.

For more than 55 years, Niki Rapattoni devoted herself to building a company, supporting an industry she loved, and creating a life filled with family, friends, creativity, and service.

Niki and her husband, Andy Rapattoni, founded Rapattoni Corporation in 1970 with little more than an idea, a commitment to the real estate industry, and each other. What began with the two of them in a small office in Westwood, California, near UCLA, grew into one of the country’s leading providers of software and technology to the real estate industry.

Niki played an integral role in the company’s growth from its earliest days. Before Andy’s death in 2015, she was often described as the person who made sure his ideas became reality. In a 2015 interview, she summed up their partnership simply: “Andy dreams it up and builds it, and I make sure it gets installed, and the customers and employees are happy.”

That partnership defined much of their lives together. Andy was the visionary technologist and industry pioneer; Niki was the person who made things happen. She cared deeply about the company’s customers and employees and was known for her directness, energy, humor, and insistence on doing things the right way.

Following Andy’s death, Niki assumed the company’s full leadership role. She guided Rapattoni into a new era, surrounding herself with a strong executive and leadership team while maintaining the values and customer-focused culture that she and Andy had built together. Under her leadership, the company continued to evolve its technology and services while remaining deeply connected to the real estate professionals and organizations it had served for generations.

Today, Rapattoni Corporation provides integrated technology and services to real estate associations and MLS organizations throughout the United States, including MLS software, association management software, integrated website services, hosting and technical support. Its association management customers represent more than 80% of the nation’s REALTORS®. The company is headquartered in Westlake Village, California.

Niki’s influence extended beyond the company. In 2008, she was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Women in Real Estate by ActiveRain, a leading online community for real estate professionals.

Early Life and Education

Niki Alois Brown was born in 1940 in San Diego, California. She also lived in Utah and Texas during her childhood. In 1956, while both were students at Chaffey High School in Ontario, California, she met Andy Rapattoni. They became high school sweethearts and were married in 1960.

Niki attended Chaffey College and later the University of Southern California, where she received a scholarship and graduated with honors in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Dental Hygiene from the USC School of Dentistry.

As a young married couple, Niki and Andy supported one another through college. Niki completed her education first, after which Andy returned to college to complete his own studies.

Niki worked as a dental hygienist in the Los Angeles area for 12 years before joining Andy full-time in building Rapattoni Corporation.

A Life Beyond Business

Although much of Niki’s professional life was devoted to Rapattoni Corporation, she had many passions outside of business.

Niki and Andy were longtime supporters of the arts and community organizations. They provided financial support and equipment to small theater groups and, in 1990, established the Ralph Rapattoni Memorial Watercolor Scholarship at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz in memory of Andy’s brother, Ralph, a talented California watercolor artist. The scholarship continues to support promising watercolor artists at Cabrillo College.

The couple also established an annual scholarship for an outstanding graduating student in the drama department at Chaffey High School in Ontario.

Niki was a longtime volunteer with the Children’s Service Auxiliary of Ventura County, beginning in 2011. She participated in the organization’s annual drives providing clothing, toys and other necessities to children in the program.

One of Niki’s greatest personal passions was ice skating. For ten years, she competed as an adult in ice dance with a partner. She was also a founding member of The Fabulous Forties, an adult precision ice-skating team that competed throughout the United States and won the national championship three times.

She also loved photography and writing. At Rapattoni Corporation, she was involved in the creative development of company announcements and press releases and took a keen interest in photography and visual presentation.

In 2013, Niki wrote a children’s book with three of her grandchildren, then ten-year-old twins and their five-year-old brother. The boys helped create the illustrations and dialogue for the book, which they worked on with their grandmother, whom they called “Nonna.” Encouraged by their teachers, the book, Fur-Faced Friends, was published and remains available through Amazon.

Niki later wrote her memoirs in a novel-style format for her family, drawing upon a remarkable childhood and life that included moving eleven times before high school, growing up during World War II and experiencing the changing culture of the 1950s.

Remembering Niki

Niki will be remembered for her remarkable energy, determination, and positive spirit. She was a woman who believed problems could be solved, people should be treated fairly, and that the right thing was always worth doing.

Ralph Hoover, President & COO, said, “Niki’s positive spirit and can-do attitude were an inspiration to everyone who knew her. She had an extraordinary ability to see what needed to be done and then make it happen. She lived by the simple principle of doing the right thing, and she never stopped moving forward.”

Niki often spoke about Andy as her best friend, business partner, and sweetheart for more than 60 years. Even after his death, his influence remained an important part of her life. She frequently returned to one of his favorite sayings: “From every adversity comes the seed of a greater benefit.”

It was a philosophy she lived.

Niki is survived by her sister, Anita Lucas of Winchester, California; her son, Nicholas Rapattoni of Burbank, California, his wife, and her four grandchildren.

Services will be private and limited to immediate family.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in honor of Niki & Andy Rapattoni to the Rapattoni Drama Scholarship Fund through the Chaffey High School Alumni Association. Checks should be made out to the “Chaffey High School Alumni Association” with “Rapattoni Drama Scholarship” noted in the memo section.

Donations may be mailed to:

Chaffey High School Alumni Association

Rapattoni Drama Scholarship

1245 North Euclid Ave.

Ontario, CA 91762