E.W. "Bill" Rice

Bill went to be with the Lord Friday holding the hand of his wife of 71 years. He is survived by his wife Shirley, four children, Karen, Steve (Debbie), Sheryl (Charles), Susan (Larry); nine grandchildren, Magen (Raf), Ellie (Dakota), Peter (Krista), Oliver, Wil, Alexis, John, Michael (Lauren), Eliza and two great-grandchildren Cole and Quinn. He graduated from Arsenal Technical High School and then Purdue University with a BSEE in 1954. He served in the US Army, Fort Bliss, TX and worked at the Naval Air Warfare Center in Indianapolis. At Hazeltine Corp., he was instrumental in the design of the first aircraft transponder for general aviation aircraft use. He also served as Chief Engineer at Regency Electronics for a time. A serial entrepreneur, risk-taker and innovator, in the 60's he founded and was president of Genave, an electronics manufacturer. In 1977, along with wife Shirley, he founded his 2nd company Ritron, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of wireless communication equipment. During his work life he embraced and practiced the philosophy of “management-by-walking-around”. He loved his Ritron family and interacted with them daily, he thrived on talking directly to customers about their needs and experiences using his products. Ritron will celebrate its 47th year in business in 2024. In 2000, Bill officially retired as president from Ritron, but always remained available as a valued advisor. He wasted no time diving into retirement, to him retirement did not mean “slow down”, rather it was time to learn new things and build on his passions of interacting with his grandkids, travel, flying, yachting, philanthropy, vinyl record collecting, building tube type amplifiers, amateur (HAM) radio, antique cars, 4-wheelers, machinist/metal working, carpentry, fishing, guns/shooting, fixing almost anything, as well as designing and building a completely off-grid multi-building family retreat, on a river, in the remote forests of Ely, Minnesota, replete with all the modern comforts and even a blacksmith shop for the hardcore metal worker in all of us. He loved sharing his experiences with his wife, children, grandkids and friends. He hardly ever knew a stranger and could strike up a conversation with anyone and often did, he was a life-long learner and always curious. We venture to say his favorite meal was eating a bowl of clam chowder while sitting outside on the deck at the Raw Bar in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Bill accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and gave us the peace of knowing we will see him again, the smartest thing he ever did. Donations can be made to: PREBORN Ministries, Indianapolis, IN or the North American Bear Center, Ely, MN. • PREBORN Ministries: go to www.preborn.com to donate or call (800) 941-0151. 4333 W 71st St, Indianapolis, IN 46268. • North American Bear Center: go to www.bear.org to donate, or call (218) 365-7879. 1926 MN-169, Ely, MN 55731 Service for Bill will be Monday, May 6th, at Leppert Mortuaries - Nora Chapel with visitation there from 11:00 am until time of Celebration of Life Service at 1:00pm located at 740 East 86th Street in Indianapolis. Interment follows at the Rice Family Plot of historic Crown Hill Cemetery of Indianapolis. Arrangements for Bill entrusted to Leppert Mortuaries & Crematory Services since 1972.