Frederick (Rick) Quaine Rice Jr.

Aug. 7, 1941 - Aug. 1, 2025

Frederick (Rick) Quaine Rice, Jr. Frederick Rice, known by most as Rick, born in Hingham MA on August 7, 1941, died August 1, 2025 at Providence Mount St. Vincent in West Seattle of advanced Parkinson’s Disease, hastened by a fall. Rick was a graduate of Hingham (MA) High School and Harvard College. A large fellow at 6’4” and 220 lbs., he struck terror in competing high school football players and threw the shotput and discus. Later, at 240 lbs., he was Harvard’s 4-year heavyweight boxing champion, also playing rugby and football. Later, he and Joyce played singles and doubles tennis and then golf. Rick was always a sports fan and passed it on by coaching his kids’ softball and hockey teams. His English major at Harvard somehow got him a marketing job at Procter & Gamble, so after six months’ Army basic training that whittled him down to 219 lbs., he and Joyce married and headed for Cincinnati, P&G’s home base, where their daughter Lauren was born. Before long they yearned for the Boston area and he talked to the Gillette Company, then based in Boston. They offered him a job a bit farther away, in the overseas marketing branch in Rio de Janeiro, where their son Andrew was born. Their next opportunity was in Melbourne, Australia, where they took up squash, there being no openings at the tennis club. Back in the USA again after a few years, he worked for The Associates Financial Services Co. in South Bend IN. Then he saw a 2-inch ad for people interested in learning HMO management. He was accepted into the very select Wharton program and was hired in 1975 to start an HMO in Amherst MA which became Valley Health Plan, the second HMO in MA after Harvard Community Health Plan, and which he eventually merged with Kaiser Permanente. Rick and Joyce moved to Seattle in 1995, following their daughter Lauren, a ’91 graduate of the University of Washington Law School who had decided to stay. Then Rick took a job setting up another HMO in Hermiston, OR, and they got to live in a small town, experience the hot high desert, be in Rotary, and make new friends until retiring in 2007. They returned to Seattle to be grandparents with Lauren’s children and son Andy’s, whose family had also moved to Seattle. Rick loved playing bridge, was a Selectman in Amherst and on the Senior Caucus of Group Health in Seattle (now Kaiser Permanente); taught himself woodworking and made many pieces of furniture for the family; played the bass in high school and studied cello later. He was in the chorus of “Iolanthe” (singing all the “best parts”), was a lifelong amateur (over)actor, and was the Voice of the Amherst Community Band’s July 4th celebrations, once including singing “Tubby the Tuba”. Rick and his family liked camping, although they could have done without the vacation in Nova Scotia where it rained so hard it was dripping inside the tent. More fun was the trip around the country when the kids were 11 and 9, towing a Coleman pop-up camper, visiting many state and national parks and far-flung family in California and Wisconsin. (However, son Andy has never forgotten how blazing hot it was crossing the desert in the un-airconditioned 1967 Dodge van.) Joyce and Rick made a similar trip after retirement, but in a Prius with A.C., catching up with many family and friends on their Christmas list. Rick is survived by his wife of 61years, Joyce, their daughter Lauren Burgon and her children Andrew and Alexis, and son Andrew Rice, his wife Bobby, and their children Madeleine, Josiah, Dashiell, Makenna and Loki. Also by his sisters Susan York, Martha Giberson and Amy Burgess and many cousins, nieces and nephews. He was the son of the late Frederick Quaine Rice Sr. and Carolyn MacSwain. Donations in his memory may be made to Hi-Liners Musical Theater, Hi-Liners Musical Theatre or P.O. Box 48346, Burien, WA 98148. https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?donation=hilin We welcome any memories you wish to share on this page.