Rush Enterprises founder W. Marvin Rush is retiring from his position as chairman of the board of the nation's largest dealer group. CEO and President W.M. "Rusty" Rush will take his place.

The senior Rush will continue to serve as a member of the board of directors of the company and have the honorary title of chairman emeritus.

W. Marvin Rush opened his first dealership in 1965 with two partners in Houston, Texas. In 1967, he made his first 100-unit fleet sale of Peterbilt trucks and started a leasing company and a financial services division. Nine years later, Rush bought out his partners to become the sole owner of Rush Enterprises. In 1996, the company was the first franchised dealership to be listed on the NASDAQ. As the company grew it continued to acquire dealerships in the southern belt, and today is the largest medium- and heavy-duty dealership organization in North America.

The company also announced the appointment of W.M. "Rusty" Rush as the company's chairman of the board.

Rusty Rush has served as president of the company since 1995 and CEO of the company since 2006. He has overseen all day-to-day operations of the company since 2001, when he was named the company's COO.

In 2008, W. Marvin Rush won the Truck Dealer of the Year Award, sponsored jointly by Heavy Duty Trucking magazine and the American Truck Dealers division of the National Automobile Dealers Association. You can read HDT's interview with Rush and the other nominees that year here.