Tom Raper

Raper's nationally televised business, Tom Raper RVs, started in April 1964 when Raper invested $2,000 to open a used car dealership on the corner of North 14th and E streets. Over the years, Raper dropped the cars and added tent campers, travel trailers, motor homes and manufactured homes to his inventory, eventually creating what he called the largest RV dealership in America. Raper invited David Bane, a Richmond native, to leave a banking job in Cincinnati to join the RV dealership as general manager. When Raper decided to retire, he sold the dealership to Bane, with the sale becoming final in June 2002. The sale of the dealership to Camping World was finalized in recent weeks. om is preceded in death by his parents, Ray and Mildred Raper, and his sister, Sally Fares. Tom's survivors are his wife, Suzanne Raper; sisters, Nancy Brookbank and Carolyn Runzer; and several nieces and nephews.