Michael Downey Rice

Michael Downey Rice succumbed to the relentless ravages of acute gingivitis on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. Resolute to the end, he steadfastly refused to floss.

Michael, 87, of Essex, Conn., formerly of Southport, N.C., Old Saybrook, Conn., and Port Washington, N.Y., was born at an early age, in New York City to Ellen and Downey Rice, but was moved to Washington, D.C. before his speech patterns were set. There he became infused with the vigor and vitality of the nation’s capital in the Eisenhower years.

After surviving eight years in the hands of the nuns, Michael was sent to Georgetown Prep for his preparatory studies. He actually did that, with reasonable success, and went on to Princeton University. Mike, as he became known to people other than his mother, enrolled as an engineer, having the quaint notion that college was a place to learn a trade.

Princeton suited Mike, except for the requirement of going to class and the long distance from “Hot Dot” Jones, for whom he lusted constantly. In his third year, he was a casualty of the engineering curriculum in general and Dr. Soo in particular; beer had nothing to do with it. Mike was required to postpone his final year until he remedied certain deficiencies in dynamics and thermodynamics. He satisfied his lust by marrying the babe.

Graduating in 1961, Mike moved with Dot to California, to engage in the occupation of engineering and the procreation of daughters. The latter was more successful. Returning to the East to find some shade, Mike learned that engineers quickly became overripe. To learn a new trade, Mike attended evening classes in law at Temple University. Or perhaps he was just staying out of the house. Nevertheless, procreation continued unabated.

Despite the handicap of a degree from a night school, Mike obtained employment at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York. There, he was assigned to railroad equipment financing, which Mike took to like a duck to, well, soup. He didn’t like New York much, either. However, there was plenty of work to do and the pay was good, so Mike persevered. He learned more and more about less and less, eventually writing several books on equipment financing and earning the respect of his peers in the field. Alas, there are very few of those, maybe four or five. Mike’s books rank among the most unsold and unread of legal literature.

As Mike eased into involuntary retirement by a dearth of legal work, he concentrated his remaining energies on fixing broken things. He had always found engines more interesting than indentures. His technical accomplishments were eclipsed only by the extent of his projects.

Mike had a lifelong passion for working on cars and houses — projects that often tested his patience but rarely dampened his spirit. With varying success, he tackled everything from home repairs to engine rebuilds, always with a determination that was equal parts admirable and entertaining. He had a particular love for his 1965 Plymouth Barracuda, the only car he ever purchased new and which he owned to the end.

One of the most memorable chapters in Mike’s life was a cross-country two-month 10,000-mile camping road trip in 1977 in a GMC van that Mike rigged with a second-hand four-speed transmission — with Mike at the wheel, the still “Hot Dot” navigating, six daughters and the family dog — packed with unexpected detours, mechanical misadventures, and enough colorful stories to fuel endless family legends. It was classic Mike: equal parts grit, humor, and resilience.

Though never a dog lover by nature, Mike developed a tolerant affection for golden retrievers, thanks to Dot’s devotion to the breed. Over the years, dozens of goldens passed through their home, and while Mike might have rolled his eyes at the fur and chaos, his quiet bond with each one never went unnoticed.

Mike threw himself into civic activities, once running unsuccessfully for the school board. His church activities were equally impressive; he was known as the “sharpshooter”’ for his practice of standing in the back of the church during Mass and kneeling on one knee during the consecration.

While living in Southport, N.C., Mike co-founded Save the Cape in 2010, a nonprofit established to protect the lower Cape Fear region from heavy industrial development and, in particular, to halt the development of a megaport in Southport to spare the environmental degradation that would have resulted from that project. The group was ultimately successful in that endeavor, much to Mike’s everlasting satisfaction.

Mike was most proud of his daughters, raised by Dot to be as engaging and capable as she was. Mike instilled in them a strong spirit of self-reliance and made sure they always had the right road maps. Mike would have been the patriarch of a large clan, seven daughters, 17 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren, except that this clan is largely matriarchal.

He was predeceased by “Hot Dot” in 2017, a daughter Kathryn Sue Rice in 1964, grandson Robert Vincent Kelly in 2011 and sister Ellen Rice Potter in 2014. He is survived by daughters Deborah Kelly and husband Tom of Westbrook, Conn., Judith Meyer and husband Phil of Auburn, Maine, Karen Chirgwin and husband Brad of Williston, VT., Janet Rice of Woodstock, GA., Theresa Sanderson and husband Steve of Newington, Conn., and Connie Brown and husband Leon (“Flip”) II of Ivoryton, Conn.; grandchildren, great-grandchildren and a niece and nephew, among others.

The family extends their deepest gratitude to the Memory Care Unit at The Village at Mariner’s Point, whose compassionate care and unwavering kindness brought comfort to both Mike and his loved ones in his final chapter.

Friends may call at Georgetown Prep, Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes, 10900 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda, MD. on Saturday, Nov. 1, at 10:30 a.m. until the time of Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. Interment will immediately follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Silver Spring, MD.