Trani announcing retirement last year.

Trani announcing retirement last year. (June 30, 2009)

RICHMOND - VCU President Eugene P. Trani is ending his 19-year tenure quietly. The leader of the state's largest university is not holding any public events on his final day at the school.

The 69-year-old Trani announced last August that he was retiring a year earlier than planned, citing health reasons. He underwent quintuple-bypass surgery last July.

Trani will remain as a professor after taking a yearlong sabbatical.

His successor, Central Michigan University President Michael Rao, will become VCU's fifth president Wednesday.