Rudolph “Rudy” Beverly Heinatz, Jr., one of Virginia’s greatest gentlemen, died peacefully in his home June 3, 2025. Born December 4, 1944 in Newport News to Virginia and Rudy Sr., he lived a life surrounded by love and fueled by an unwavering devotion to family.

Official obituaries would say “he was survived by his wife and true love of 57 years, Rebecca.” And that is true.

But theirs was a love of the ages, a young love that their grandchildren (Ford, Addy, Jack, and Will) marvel at knowing their Nana fell in love with their Papaw at only 14 years old, and only fell more and more in love with him as the years went on.

They shaped each other, grew into adulthood together. They traversed the country as Rudy served honorably as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam era, started a family (Tina and little Rudy), and made their way back home to Virginia where Rudy spent over 40 years working in the car business.

Put simply, Rudy was the man who gave car salesmen a good name. He was respected and respectful, always wearing a smile (and sharply dressed), treated every customer as if they were family, and took pride in knowing that he could help everyone from a 16- to an 80-year-old navigate what is often one of the largest purchases in their lives, and among the most important. He took that responsibility to heart and was deeply revered for it.

Taking life to heart was the only way Rudy knew how to be.

He wasn’t just a class act. He was the classiest of men.

He wasn’t just a big brother to twin sisters Sharon and Cheryl. He was the most adoring of big brothers, still telling stories with vivid detail about their childhood 70 years later.

He wasn’t just a father to Tina and Rudy. He was their friend. Their best man. Their confidant. Their Daddy. When Mike and Stephanie came along, they weren’t his in-laws. They became his kids, too.

He wasn’t just a husband to Rebecca. He was everything to her, for her, with her.

Rudolph “Rudy” Beverly Heinatz Jr.’s legacy will live on in his children, whom he showed how to put family first; and in his grandchildren, who know more about John Wayne than most of today’s generation thanks to him.

The family will celebrate his life privately in the way he always wanted—together, surrounded by love, and memories of a life well lived.

Memorial donations may be made to Knott Alone-Hold Fast, a Gloucester-based non-profit that helps military veterans heal from PTSD through hands-on watermen activities, via Venmo at @KnottAloneHoldFast or holdfast.vet.