Mr. Ritenour is a life-long resident of Loudoun County. He was born and raised in Leesburg and attended Loudoun County High School. After graduating, Mr. Ritenour attended Hampden-Sydney College on the Moomaw Leadership Award. He graduated in three years, magna cum laude, in 1972 with a double major in Political Science and Philosophy. In 1976, he graduated from the University of Virginia’s School of Law with a Juris Doctorate degree.
Upon graduating law school, Mr. Ritenour established his own law firm in Leesburg. Since that date, Mr. Ritenour has served the legal needs of the community, focusing primarily on criminal law, real estate, business law and personal injury. In his first year of practice, Mr. Ritenour served as co-counsel in the rape-murder case of Commonwealth v. Julian, wherein the Virginia death penalty was declared unconstitutional. In 1986, Mr. Ritenour and his former partner, Daniel J. Travostino, represented the widowed family of a Loudoun County man in a civil jury trial wherein the largest wrongful death verdict in the previous history of Loudoun County was rendered. In the early 1990′s he represented the Virginia Toll Road Corporation in its efforts to extend Route 267 from Dulles Airport to Leesburg, a landmark private sector project which was successfully completed in September of 1995.
In May of 1990, Mr. Ritenour was named by New Dominion Magazine one of the 50 most powerful people in Northern Virginia. For five of the last seven years, he has been named in Leesburg Today’s “Best of . . .” poll as the Best Criminal Lawyer in the area. Just recently, Mr. Ritenour has merged his law office with the firm of Paice and Mougin-Boal, P.C. and is now a senior partner for Ritenour Paice Mougin-Boal & Wexton. He continues to represent the interests of citizens of Northern Virginia in both the state and federal courts.
In addition to practicing law, Mr. Ritenour has been very involved in real estate development—both public and private. For five and one half years, Mr. Ritenour served on the County Planning Commission where he chaired the Zoning and the Comprehensive Planning Committees. In such capacities, he was responsible for the initial drafts of both the County Comprehensive Plan and the revised County Zoning Ordinance.
In the private sector Mr. Ritenour has been an extremely active participant in real estate development in the Northern Virginia area. Over the past 28 years, he has been involved, either in an individual capacity, as an agent, or as legal counsel, in the purchase and settlement of over 5,000 real estate contracts in Virginia and elsewhere. His renovation projects in Leesburg include his first office at 107 East Market Street, the Courthouse Square Office Condominiums, the Southern Exchange retail center also on East Market (Route 7), and the total conversion of the former 22,000 square foot bowling alley on Catoctin Circle into professional offices, currently occupied by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Department. In the late 1980′s, Mr. Ritenour purchased the 50,000 square foot Market Station retail/office complex in downtown Leesburg. Though Mr. Ritenour sold the complex in the mid 1990′s, he maintained his offices there until 2004.
As principal designer and managing partner, Mr. Ritenour was responsible for the successful rehabilitation and conversion to condominiums of the 89-unit Cavalier Arms and the 232-unit Country Club Green apartment complexes. Among his land development ventures are quality subdivisions including estate-type properties such as Mosby’s Crossing, a 229-acre community in the Middleburg Hunt Country of western Loudoun County.
With several other initial investors, Mr. Ritenour launched Leesburg Today at Market Station in 1988, and remains a major shareholder of this thriving local newspaper.
Mr. Ritenour also owns the record label Marquis Records and was responsible for producing and distributing albums by guitarist Michael Fath and the band YNOT. For many years, he also owned and operated The Village Restaurant and Papa John’s/Scoopers, both successful Leesburg restaurants.
The founder of Allied Professionals Realty and Development Company (t/a Cavalier Realty), as well as Courthouse Square Title Insurance Agency, and East Coast Title, Mr. Ritenour is currently a principal in Prosperity Title in Leesburg. He has also served as a varsity basketball coach and Board Member at Notre Dame Academy in Middleburg, Virginia.
Most recently, Mr. Ritenour was the principal investor in Marquis Investment Group, LLC, which in December of 2003 acquired the Laurel Brigade Inn, a 250 year old historic landmark in downtown Leesburg. The Laurel Brigade has been historically restored, renovated and converted to professional offices, including the law offices of Ritenour Paice Mougin-Boal & Wexton and Prosperity Title.