Robert Augustus Rice

Robert Augustus Rice passed away on August 30th at the age of 92, just a month after the death of Anne, his beloved wife of 64 years. Bob was an extraordinary and loving father to daughters Kathy (Steve), Jenny, Julie, and Mary. Adored grandfather to Jennifer, Sarah, Alex, Kian, and Raymond (Joy, deceased). Bob is also survived by Mary’s granddaughters Brooke, Jansyn and Hollyn, and great granddaughters Raelyn and Bayla. Brother to Allan and predeceased by his brother Donald and parents Bernard and Olive Rice.

Bob had an incredibly successful career and was very proud of his accomplishments. While he was in high school in Winnipeg, he wrote a school-related column for the Winnipeg Citizen, and after graduating from high school in 1948, he joined the Winnipeg Citizen as a copyboy/journalist. He was so talented that, by 1950, he’d been hired as the News Editor for the Prince Albert Herald. He soon moved back to Winnipeg to join the CBC as the News Editor for the Prairie newsroom. In 1952, he moved to Nassau in the Bahamas where he worked as the Managing Editor for the Nassau Guardian for a few years – a huge accomplishment for a 22-year-old! In 1955, he sailed by ship to England to join the Canadian Press’s London Bureau as Staff Correspondent. Bob worked for the Canadian Press for almost a decade, moving from London to Montreal and then to Ottawa. In 1964, he joined the Globe and Mail as Chief of Bureau and worked in the Press Gallery at the Parliament buildings in Ottawa. In 1966, Bob joined Canadian Pacific (CP) in their Public Relations department, and he was with CP until he retired in 1993. During his time with CP, Bob quickly moved up in the company, from Assistant Manager, Public Relations to Vice President, Public Affairs for Canadian Pacific Limited.

During his time at Canadian Pacific, Bob was the creative force behind some incredible events, including planning Canadian Pacific’s Pavilion at the Vancouver Expo in 1986—the pavilion’s main feature was the film Rainbow War, which was nominated for an Oscar for the Live Action Short category at the 58th Academy Awards. The film played again for an international audience at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul Korea, as a part of the Olympic Arts Festival. Bob also spearheaded the official opening of a new route for the Roger’s Pass through the Rockies, including the opening of the McDonald Tunnel in 1988, which was the longest rail tunnel in North America. Bob also managed a huge multi-day event for CP’s 100th anniversary celebration.

Bob met Anne in Montreal and they married in Cambridge in 1959. Bob was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer soon after they were engaged—but Bob proved everyone wrong and bravely fought the cancer and it never returned. After this cancer scare, the couple decided to quickly start their family. Bob and Anne shared an incredible life together and were very involved in their local community and church, and they created life-long friendships through groups like CCC, CFM and Camp Kinkora—all of these organizations were a huge influence not only on Bob and Anne, but also their kids. They travelled a lot, especially after their kids were grown, volunteered extensively and gave their kids an amazing home and life.

Bob was a wonderful father and grandfather who loved planning creative activities and outings. He introduced his daughters to different things he was interested in—from camping to sailing, different art projects he did with them, meditation, and many fun outings together. On a houseboat trip with Kathy and family, he planned themed days for the kids with costumes and activities, with the detailed week plan outlined on a laminated schedule—again, he didn’t do anything by half measures! He was a very involved grandfather and loved spending time with his grandkids and seeing them grow up over the years.

While Bob accomplished much on a professional level, he was also an incredibly creative and artistic person who painted many beautiful works of art, some of which won awards in art contests. He dabbled in other art forms as well such as sculpture, puppetry and wood working.

Bob was one of the kindest and most generous people you could ever meet. He gave much of his time by volunteering for CFM as well as acting as the President of the English-Speaking Catholic Council in Montreal for many years. Bob and Anne volunteered for a number of years at Camp Kinkora as the activity directors for the annual Folk Music Camp, and they created tons of fun events, including scavenger hunts and adventure games. In Kingston, he was the woodworking supervisor at the Canadian Forces woodworking shop on the Vimy base—he was the only non-military volunteer in the shop.

Perhaps Bob’s biggest passion was life-long learning. He plunged headfirst into everything—if he was interested in something, jumped in with both feet. He was an early adopter of computers and spent many hours researching and learning a wide variety of topics. His prized bookcases were filled with books about philosophy, religion, history, business, personal growth, and many other topics. The last books he bought just a month before his passing were two books on statistics—proof that he never stopped wanting to learn something new.

In retirement, Bob and Anne moved to Kingston, halfway between their Montreal friends and their kids in Ontario. Bob and Anne had a dream retirement, renovating Lilac Cottage on Cartwright Point into a magical place where their kids, grandkids, family, and friends loved to visit and stay, and enjoy Bob and Anne’s never-ending hospitality. Lilac Cottage was even featured on a number of different garden and house tours.

When he decided that he wanted gardens at Lilac Cottage, he studied to become a Master Gardener and joined the Kingston Garden Club. When he told Anne he wanted to build a small pond at Lilac Cottage, he ended up designing and building a HUGE pond that was over 20 feet long, with five waterfalls and two pond areas.

The couple quickly made incredible friends in Kingston, and Bob gave his time to volunteering with the Queen’s University Theology Department handling their communications as well as learning about world religions and different aspects of theology. Bob and Anne’s social life was the envy of their kids with many social events, trips to exciting places, and fun dinner parties over the years.

Over the last few years, Bob was devoted to Anne, spending his days keeping her company in her room at Revera Leaside. His days were filled with his daily ritual of reading the Globe and Mail and other newspapers and magazines, and clipping business and news articles to be filed for future learning.

We will be holding a celebration of both Bob and Anne’s life at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory to The Alzheimer Society of Canada (https://alzheimer.ca/en).

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/toronto-on/anne-rice-11379679