Terms of the sale were not disclosed. A spokesman for Requarth said the company’s East Monument Avenue location will remain open and the business name at that location will remain unchanged.
“While the sale of the Requarth Co. is one of the most difficult decision members of my family and I have ever made, we have great confidence for its future under the ownership of the Schockman Lumber Group and the Bruns family,” Pippenger said in a statement.
Requarth was founded in 1860 and is famed locally for, among other reasons, having sold wood to the Wright brothers for their early airplanes.
“We were not seeking a buyer for the company, but when we were approached by Doug Bruns we realized that this is a good fit that strengthens the Requarth Co. and ensures that it will remain a family-owned company in downtown Dayton,” Pippenger also said.
In downtown Dayton, Requarth Lumber has been in business since 1860.
Pippenger, then president of Requarth, told the Dayton Daily News in 2023 that there’s no secret to staying in business a century and longer. For him, it was about selling the right product.
It was also about adaptability. Pippenger’s great-great-grandfather, Frederick August Requarth, started the business as a millwork shop. Though Requarth started in millwork, making stairs, handrails and bannisters, it soon got into general contracting, raising buildings.
A more recent example of long-term adaptability was seen in 2011, when Requarth acquired Supply One, getting into the kitchen and cabinet business — a big step for the company.
At the time, Requarth Lumber and Supply One Cabinets and Design merged into Requarth’s 447 E. Monument Ave. home.
“Members of my family are keenly aware of the rich history of the Requarth Co. Five generations of family spanning 165 years serving homeowners, industry and contractors, is a remarkable feat,” said Bruns, president of the Schockman Lumber Group.
Schockman is a family-owned business with nine other lumber yards serving communities in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, the company said in the announcement.
Pippenger retired as Requarth’s president in January 2024 and was succeeded by Alan Lee.
“I’m sensitive to the historical value of the company to the family,” said Alan Lee, Requarth’s general manager. “That’s why it’s so encouraging and important that the Schockman Group is also family owned and operated while maintaining local management and staff. We look forward to continuity and new opportunities for growth.”
“This is bittersweet, but it is time for us to let go and position the company for its next century of success,” Pippenger added.
Pippenger and other family members have maintained financial interests in the company real estate, and Pippenger will remain the chairman of the family’s board of directors, the business said.
Requarth family shareholders include members of the fourth, fifth and sixth generations, the business added.
About the Author
