PALO ALTO, Calif. (N.Y. Times News Service) — The Rev. John Wesley Rice Jr., who rose from the segregated South to become a minister and university leader, died on Sunday in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 77 and the father of Condoleezza Rice, who was recently selected by president-elect George W. Bush to be his national security adviser.
His wife, Clara Bailey Rice, said Rice went to the Stanford University Medical Center last Friday after suffering an irregular heartbeat. He had experienced similar heart problems since February, she said.
Rice was born in Baton Rouge, La. He worked as a Presbyterian minister, teacher, and coach at a high school in Birmingham, Ala., before becoming dean of students at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa. In 1969, he became a professor and assistant vice chancellor of the University of Denver.