Millard Lee Rice passed away at his home in Westminster, Maryland, on June 11, just a few weeks shy of his 100th birthday. To those who knew of him, he was a man of impressive intelligence and learning whose dazzling and varied career spanned more than a half century. To those lucky enough to know him well and to share in his life, he was, more importantly, a man of rare generosity, effortless humility, genuine kindness, and gentle humor—a companion, a traveler, a gardener, a photographer, a reader, a father, a husband, and a friend. His loss leaves his community and, indeed, the world a poorer place, but his life and his manifold legacy have enriched it in many ways.

Born on July 16, 1925, in Washington, D.C., Lee grew up on a small farm in Montgomery County, Maryland. After service as an electronic technician in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he earned his bachelor’s degree at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College), an institution that would become the focus of much of his philanthropy and attention later in life. Following graduate studies in mathematics and physics at the University of Maryland, he began his career at Atlantic Research Corporation, starting as a mathematician and quickly emerging as one of the corporation’s most promising young rocket scientists.  His impressive work at Atlantic Research led to no fewer than four patents, including one on a widely used meteorological sounding rocket, which is now on permanent display at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. He was, in addition, the co-inventor of the solid propellant rocket system for the Polaris missile. For these and other achievements, Lee was named the Outstanding Young Applied Scientist of the Washington Capital Area. Even at this early moment in his career, however, it was clear that Lee was always more than just a brilliant scientific mind. He was, equally important, a capable manager and a thoughtful mentor to those who followed in his field, often underemphasized talents that would lead him to become the president of Atlantic Research in a remarkably short span of time.

The next phase of Lee’s career was at the Ogden Corporation, where in September of 1967 he was appointed as senior vice president, made responsible for the company’s activities in applied technology, and placed in key positions on Ogden’s management and planning committees. By December of 1968, Lee was elected president of the sprawling corporation, and during his successful tenure he reorganized it, streamlining the company for efficiency and operationality. His successes in those arenas drove his appointment as CEO of the Ogden Transportation Group and eventually his election as president of the Shipbuilders Council of America, which he headed for three years. In that latter capacity, Lee became an influential lobbyist who promoted the interests of American shipbuilding through the early 1980s, working closely with Congresswoman Corrine C. (Lindy) Boggs, representative of Louisiana, to develop legislation that supported commercial shipbuilding in the United States.

Toward the conclusion of his multipronged career, Lee worked as an executive consultant for a variety of scientific endeavors, and he worked closely with the EPA on projects related to recycling, mitigation of hazardous waste, and mineral reclamation. This pioneering work was part of a worldwide effort toward greater environmental sensitivity in heavy industry; it eventually led Lee to take up the presidency of Green Sea Ventures, a scientific company that explored a pathbreaking process of atmospheric carbon dioxide capture and reduction. This final position serves as a fitting coda to Lee’s long and distinguished career, a mark of his versatility as a scientist and thinker, and a testament to his profound ethic of civic engagement and global stewardship. 

Lee's philanthropy was well known. He was especially generous to his alma mater McDaniel College, from which he graduated in 1948 and which awarded him a Doctorate of Sciences honoris causa in 1983. Lee was invited to join the Board of Trustees in 1979, and he became Chair of the Board from 1991 to 1996. As Trustee Emeritus, he chaired the largest and most successful fund-raising campaign in the college's history.

Lee was also a keen photographer and built his own photography studio (which he subsequently donated to McDaniel College), and his love of gardening made his post-retirement home in Round Hill, Virginia, a showplace. Lee’s artistic and aesthetic interests are surely lesser recognized than his scientific ones, but they speak to his to the breadth of his abilities and his formidable talents in a diversity of fields. In fact, Lee was an early pioneer in computer art and developed a computer code to generate Mandelbrot set figures, experimenting with the development of images well before the internet and AI made such things ubiquitous. While his first wife Esther was, thus, creating abstract paintings in her studio, Lee was producing a new kind of art with his computer programs and digitally generated images—a harmonious marriage of science and art, of deeply held humanism and extraordinary technical ability.

Lee is survived by his wife of almost two decades, Joan Develin Coley. He was predeceased by his wife of 57 years, Esther Prangley Rice, and sister Ann Rice Jett. He is also survived by his four children: Joseph M. Rice (Cathryn), Helen Rice Summers (Robert), Stephen R. Rice (Sharon), and Lawrence M. Rice (Ann), as well as his stepson David K. Coley (Kimberly). Lee leaves 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

 For almost a century, Lee modeled a life of service, engagement, and joy. He constantly broadened his intellectual and vocational horizons, pushing his own knowledge—and sometimes the world’s knowledge—to new and productive places. He loved art and loved books; he loved learning and study; he loved and supported his family, from its most recent additions to its most long-established ones. He enjoyed a very tart slice of key lime pie, appreciated color and line and form, and was as adept with a good turn of phrase as he was with a tidy mathematical paradigm. He was a brilliant, kind, and generous human being, and he spent his life trying to make the world a better place. He elevated those around him, and that is the mark of a truly exceptional man. He will be missed by those who knew and loved him, and he will be remembered and celebrated by many.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the M. Lee Rice Endowed Scholarship Fund at McDaniel College, 2 College Hill, Westminster, MD 21157.

A memorial celebration will be held at McDaniel College on Saturday, June 21, at 1 p.m. in Baker Memorial Chapel, with a reception in Coley Rice Lounge to follow.