James K. Rice

James K. Rice, 89, a chemical engineering consultant from Sandy Spring, Md., died on April 4.

Born in Pittsburgh, Rice served as a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater during World War II and later as a captain in the Marine Corps Reserve.

He earned a B.S. in chemical engineering before earning an M.S. in chemical engineering in 1947, both from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University).

Rice was president of Cyrus Wm. Rice & Co., a Pittsburgh firm of consulting engineers and chemists specializing in industrial water and wastewater treatment.

After the merger of the firm in 1967 with NUS Corp., a Rockville, Md., firm of consulting nuclear engineers and scientists, Rice served as vice president and manager of NUS’s Rice Division. He then moved to Sandy Spring in 1973 to serve as a senior vice president of NUS. He resigned in 1976 to work in his private consulting engineering practice until his retirement in 2001. Rice authored more than 70 technical papers.

He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of both the American Society for Testing & Materials and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1953.

Rice’s wife Mary died in 2006. He is survived by his wife Patricia, whom he married in 2007; daughter, Laura W. Saunders; son, James; two grandchildren; stepdaughter, Lindsay Chase-Lansdale; stepsons, Thomas Lansdale, Richard Lansdale, and J. Page Lansdale; and six stepgrandchildren.