I think that Tolkien did not name an "heir apparent" because he couldn't. I rather doubt that he ever even thought about it. No one could take up Middle earth again because it was his world and nobody else could take his place in it. In the fantasy genre as a whole, nobody could come after and do what he did. He injected new life into it and created a different strand of fantasy (that many writers have grabbed onto, but none of them are as memorable). I don't feel that his tales were something that somebody could come and take up where he left off. He had his own unique work to do and nobody else could do it.
His stories were originally for his own amusement (more or less). The public aspect of them came later, but they remained a very personal part of him. I believe that type of possession is something that you can't leave to anybody else to continue, it is too closely attached to your own being.
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...finding a path that cannot be found, walking a road that cannot be seen, climbing a ladder that was never placed, or reading a paragraph that has no...
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