David Hamilton Rice, age 79, died March 14, 2016 in Baltimore, MD after a short illness. Dave was born on October 23, 1936 in Greenfield, MA, son of the late Kenneth Harrison Rice and Charlotte Hamilton Rice. Dave was a man of many passions and talents, with an artful eye that guided him through his entire life.
He graduated from Deerfield Academy in 1954, and received a BA from Dartmouth College in Art and Architecture in 1958. At Dartmouth he was an All American, All Ivy and All New England Lacrosse player, and Captain of the Varsity team as well as an All American swimmer. Following graduation, he attended Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI, and was commissioned in the US Navy, and later retired from the Naval Reserves as a Lieutenant Commander. He received a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 1963.
He married Nancy Garfield of Syracuse, New York in 1959, and spent his career in Norfolk, Virginia, where he focused on the rebirth of a city. As Executive Director of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, Dave’s lifeworks took 38 years of effort, creating a masterpiece of livability, and bringing a downtown and surrounding neighborhoods back to life.
Dave retired to Brooklin, Maine in 2001, where he took up the fine art of wooden boat building, and launched his first wooden boat – “The Nancy.” He also became a prolific artist. Many of his landscape paintings can be viewed at happyplaceartisans.com. He always commanded a gathering with his story telling, was a gourmet cook and an avid gardener, and a life-long sailor. He was a member of the Bagaduce Chorale in Blue Hill, Maine and the Blakehurst Chorus in Baltimore.
Dave is survived by his two daughters and sons-in-law, Anne and Mark Engel of Stamford, CT and Lynn and Jeff Whitehead of Baltimore, MD; six grandchildren, David Engel, Eliza Engel, Avery Whitehead, Haley Whitehead, Jack Engel, and Sam Engel, a brother, Kenneth Harrison Rice and his wife, Marjorie from Indianapolis and sister, Rachel Rice Cook and her husband, Ross, from Winchester, MA.
There will be a private Celebration of Life gathering in Baltimore on April 17th. Services will also be planned in Norfolk, Virginia and Brooklin, Maine at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in David’s memory to the Tidewater Wooden Boat Workshop, a nonprofit charitable and educational organization that uses wooden boatbuilding and other nautical related activities to help disadvantaged youth in Hampton Roads develop the essential life skills that lead to a successful future. Donations can be made directly via their website: www.TWBW.org OR by mailing a check to: Tidewater Woodenboat Building Workshop, P.O. Box 1243, Norfolk, VA 23501.
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