Deceased March 14, 2015
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In Memory
Having done okay our freshman year, in sophomore year I began a slow transformation into a more mature student. I credit Tom Rice with a good deal of the inspiration that led to this change. We were in some of the same classes, and the seriousness and perseverance Tom brought to his studies made a big impression on me.
Tom typified what it meant to be a scholar, learning the material in his way for his purposes, not because that’s what he was told to do. That seriousness of purpose, that dedication to exploring the material in detail and that ability to focus on his studies for hours became a hallmark of his time at Amherst. He enjoyed an outstanding career as a plant geneticist and agricultural biotechnology consultant.
After Tom died of cancer on March 14, Tim Holekamp ’68 observed, “Although there were plenty of us majoring in biology, sweating it out senior year, struggling without much joy to make significant discoveries as part of senior honors theses, our real goals were medical school and the socioeconomic Valhalla that lay beyond it. The exception was Tom Rice, who did all the same things, loved the lab work and never thought about applying to medical school. He wanted to make his mark in biologic genetic research. He went on to be one of those who transformed row crop genetics to a higher level of utility and productivity at DeKalb and ultimately became a leader in that company.”
Tom and I started graduate programs at Yale immediately after graduation. Nothing was different; he tackled the graduate program with the dedication and perseverance he showed at Amherst, and in my mind success was guaranteed. He was the consummate student and scholar, one who should make Amherst proud, as a person and a role model.
Peter Collings ’68