Obituary of George Albert Rice

GEORGE ALBERT RICE (1926 – 2018) George Albert Rice, age 92, died on Wednesday, November 8, 2018, at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, ON. His family is forever grateful for the compassionate and loving care George received from his nurses and physicians in the Palliative Care Unit at St. Michael’s during his last month of life. George was born on August 23, 1926 in Windsor, ON. He was the second of three children born of Thomas Murray Rice and Hattie Bondy Rice. His older brother Murray Joseph Rice predeceased him in 2014, and his younger sister, Elizabeth ``Onnie`` Forest-Jones currently lives in Halifax, N.S. After completing his early schooling in La Salle ON, George attended Forester High School, and Assumption College, both in Windsor ON, where he excelled in Math and Science. He was known affectionately by his classmates as a ``Walking Math Manual``. After graduating with an honors degree in Mechanical and Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto in 1947, he joined the C.I.L. Corp. in Shawinigan Falls, PQ. He returned to Toronto in 1951 to embark on his own private business career as founder, owner, and CEO of Process-Instruments Systems Ltd. a private Company which manufactured and engineered specialty valves, circuit boards and control panels , for major industrial use both nationally such as Ontario’s nuclear plants and internationally. His expertise gained him not only personal success, but enormous respect from major Corporations for whom he supplied. George is survived by the love of his life, Bernice Celina Mongeau. They were married on October 31, 1945 and moved to Toronto where George pursed his education. From that day until his death, George cared and adored his “Bernicey”. Their marriage of 73 years is a true testament of the power of enduring love. George is also survived by his five children, Susan (David Cassivi); Tom (Janet Vigneux); Elaine (Reinhold Vieth); Jim; Jennifer (Guillermo Gallo). He will be missed deeply by his children and his intelligence, determination and strength lives in each of them. His presence will be missed at family functions that he loved so much, but his memory will always live on. George was very proud of his legacy of a large and loving family. He was very close and deeply involved in the lives of his ten grandchildren to whom he will always be Poppa; Stephen Cassivi (Kathy McLellan), Matthew Rice (Julia Rice), Jonathan Rice (Andrea Rice), Carolyn Dixon (Jason Dixon), Simon Vieth (Tetyana Vieth), Charlotte Vieth (Sebastian Mildner), Laura Rich (Tim Rich), Alissa Vieth (Joe Mersereau), Andrew Conlon and Olivia Conlon. In addition, George took enormous pride in his eleven great-grandchildren: Claire McLellan-Cassivi, Adam McLellan-Cassivi, Nathan Rice, Noah Rice, Mareike Vieth, Luka Vieth, George Rice, Rilyn Dixon, Theodore Rich, Felix Mildner and Jadyn Dixon. As an alumnus of Assumption College in Windsor ON, the school motto ``Bonitatem et disciplinam et scientiam doce me`` meaning ``teach me goodness, discipline, and knowledge`` became part of his life. To the very end, George maintained a staunch adherence to the value of hard work, respect for people, fairness and love. He valued education for life-long learning, and his unrelenting pursuit of knowledge greatly influenced his five children who each followed in his footsteps and pursued higher education. George was a brilliant and successful business man but never lost sight of his family that he loved so much. His family was his deepest source of pride. His memory will always live on in the large family he has given to this earth. He will be missed daily and especially when something is broken, because George (Dad, Poppa) could fix anything. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Our Lady of Lourdes Church (Wellesley and Sherbourne) Toronto on Friday November 16th at 10:30 am.