Tribute to E.W, (BILL) Rice, 1932-2024

[Editor’s note: Below is a tribute to the late Bill Rice (pictured above), the founder and former president of Ritron who died on April 26. This tribute was distributed to Ritron dealers, customers, friends and others.] 

Dear Ritron Dealer, Customer, Industry-Friend, it is with a heavy-heart that I need to inform you that E. W. (Bill) Rice III, our founder and former president of Ritron, Inc., went to be with the Lord Friday holding the
hand of his wife of 71 yrs. He was 91.
Bill was a visionary, innovator, risk-taker, and niche-marketer extraordinaire in the LMR communication industry. His electronic design work, and the 2 companies he founded, fundamentally changed general aviation communication
and LMR communication markets. He had the unique ability to see opportunities that others did not, and the technical expertise and creativity to design and build a solution that met that need.
He graduated from 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, in the 60’s he founded and was president of Genave, a manufacturer of aviation communication and navigation equipment.
In 1977, along with wife Shirley, he founded his 2nd company Ritron, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of wireless-communication equipment to the LMR market. His brainchild was the JOBCOM line of cost-effective, 2-way portable
radios, the “color dot” frequency coding system and alternative market selling. Its low-cost and increased availability put efficient, professional 2-way radio in the hands of 10,000’s of thousands of businesses.
During his work life, he embraced the philosophy of “management-by-walking-around”. He loved his Ritron family and interacted with them daily, he thrived on talking directly to customers and manufacturers reps about their
product needs. 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 all. 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.
He is survived by his wife, 4 children, 9 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren Cole and Quinn.
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