Passing the torch at Larue Pest Management

EVAN WILLIAMS / FLORIDA WEEKLY Larry Ruebeling and his son Keith. Larry Ruebeling, 67, has something of silver-screen icon Robert Duvall's quiet, nobig deal good looks. His son, Keith Ruebeling, 40, is blonde-haired, but roughly the younger version.

The father and son share more than physical traits. Since 1992, they've worked alongside each other at their family business, Larue Pest Management Inc.

Larry Ruebeling is still the current president, but has already handed over much of the responsibilities to his son. Keith Ruebeling has moved into the president's office at the company headquarters in Lehigh Acres. His father plans to relinquish the official title Jan. 1.

"Keith's ideal because he's been very instrumental in developing (Larue Pest Management) to the point we're at," Larry Ruebeling said.

The services they provide include general pest control, like getting rid of small insects and bugs. They also do termite control, lawn and shrub maintenance and nutrition, and irrigation. The company employs 16 people who have regular pest-control routes in Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Hendry and Glades counties.

Larry Ruebeling said 90 percent of their business is residential homes — "our bread and butter," he said.

Keith Ruebeling handles many of the company's commercial accounts, including health-care organizations like Hope Hospice, apartment complexes or food-industry businesses.

One of the son's future challenges — one the company has faced since Larry Ruebeling founded it in Lehigh Acres nearly 32 years ago — will be meeting increasingly tight government regulations on pest control products and services.

"It's been a natural progression, staying ahead of the curve," Larry Ruebeling said. "Continuing education is a huge thing with us. "B

oth father and son are past board members of the Florida Pest Management Association, their industry's trade organization; and Keith is on the organization's Government Affairs Committee. It helps them remain attuned to current changes like the environmentally sensitive green movement. While some of the change is good, Larry Ruebeling said it often means words like "pesticide" or "fertilizer" are automatically assumed to imply environmental irresponsible, even if that's far from the truth.

"We also understand the general public is moving to a more environmentally sensitive time and we need to adapt," Keith Ruebeling added.

Part of that means changing the image of pest-control workers.

The old, stereotypical image is comparable to John Goodman's character in the 1990 horror flick, "Arachnophobia," said Larry Ruebeling. At one point in the film, the pot-bellied character swaggers around with a cigarette dangling form his lips, spraying some kind of toxic liquid indiscriminately about a barn. However entertaining that is, it's not the image he wants to portray.

"We want to portray professionalism out there and live by the image of safety and health for our customers," Larry Ruebeling said. "We're really a health-related organization, because a lot of the pests we control are a health problem, not just a nuisance."

Prior to founding Larue Pest Management Inc. in Lehigh Acres in 1978, Larry Ruebeling ran a sales and consulting business. His father was a strawberry farmer and barber in Plant City.

Keith Ruebeling is a seventh generation Floridian who grew up in Lehigh Acres. He graduated from Riverdale High School in 1986 and started work at Larue Pest Management Inc. in 1992, shortly after graduating from Florida State University with a degree in economics. Before working at Larue, he considered at least two other types of work: banking and real estate.

"To be honest, that wasn't my initial goal to come back and work for the company," he said.

Larry Ruebeling needed help with many duties in 1992, including marketing the business and making house calls. His son initially helped fill many of those roles.

"It was anything and everything that was needed at the time," Keith Ruebeling said.

"Needless to say," his father said, "I was pleased that he wanted to come into the business. Keith was out there learning it from the bottom up, which is the way to do it."

Learning the business sometimes involved close encounters of the creepy-crawly kind.

"This business involved getting in attics and finding snakeskins when you're crawling around," Keith said. "In attics, there are probably the creepiest things I've dealt with. This business sometimes takes you into tight corners with low light and you never know what you're going to run into."

Larue's policy is to call an animal control agency if they find any large pests they can't manage.

Behind the scenes, Keith and Larry Ruebeling say, their wives have been key to their success. Keith and his family, his wife Michele and three daughters, live in South Fort Myers. He also has a sister, not involved in the business. With them, he adds, "the weekends are full."

Larry's wife Fay has also been involved with parts of the business. "Without her, I couldn't have kept up with the paperwork and bookwork," he said.

Larry Ruebeling plans to work more in his garden at home in Lehigh when he retires — after all, he went to school for agriculture and horticulture at the University of Florida. But he'll remain a part of things at the office as well, a helping hand to his son. "I'll be available if he needs me," he said. "I'll work for him."