Lois Rice

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Lois Rice
Born
Lois Ann Dickson

(1933-02-28)February 28, 1933
Portland, Maine, U.S.
DiedJanuary 4, 2017(2017-01-04) (aged 83)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Spouse(s)Emmett J. Rice (divorced)
Alfred B. Fitt (1978–1992, his death)
Children2, including Susan

Lois Ann Dickson Fitt Rice (February 28, 1933 – January 4, 2017) was an American corporate executive, scholar, and education policy expert.[1] Known as the ‘‘mother of the Pell Grant” [2] because of her work lobbying for its creation,[1][3] she was national vice president of the College Board from 1973 until 1981.[4] According to the Wall Street Journal, she was “among the first wave of African-American women serving on boards of major US corporations,”[3] and under president Bill Clinton, she was a member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.[1] For years, she was an economic studies expert at the Brookings Institution concentrating on education policy.[5][1]

Early life and education

Lois Ann Fitt Rice (née Dickson)[6] was born in Portland, Maine, on February 28, 1933.[1] Her parents were immigrants from Jamaica,[7] her father David working as a janitor [6] and her mother working as a maid. Lois was the youngest of five children, all of whom went to college.[8]

Lois was a 1950 graduate of

Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Columbia University and has honorary degrees from both Brown University and Bowdoin College.[5]

Public service career

College Board and Pell Grant

In 1959, she joined the College Board

College Entrance Examination Board.[1] She was an executive of the organization in 1972, when she pushed for the creation of the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant program.[1] It was later renamed the Pell Program, and was widely enacted in the United States to help fund undergraduate educations.[1] Rice was a major lobbyist for the creation of the Pell Grant,[1][3] and according to The Washington Post, she was known as the “mother of the Pell Grant” for her role in helping create the program.[1] According to Clay Pell IV, “This program was not inevitable, and it would not have come into existence without her, nor survived in the decades since without her passionate advocacy.”[1] After the Pell Grant program was established, she remained director of the College Board's Washington Office, and was its national vice president from 1973 until 1981. During this time, she continued to promote the Pell program.[4]

Other organizations

Early in her career prior to joining the College Board, Rice directed the National Scholarship Service's counseling services.

College Entrance Examination Board's policy research office in Washington, D.C.[6] Rice served on school boards with Madeleine Albright, a friend of hers.[10]

In 1992, she was a guest scholar at

Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.[5]

Business career

According to

African American studies program.[5]

Beyond serving on the board,[1] she was a senior vice president of Control Data Corporation.[4] She oversaw the company's “interface in federal and state government public affairs and policies.” [5]

Personal life

Rice was married to

Federal Reserve system.[10] They had two children, E. John Rice Jr. and Susan Rice.[1] The family spent the children's youth living in Shepherd Park in Northwest, Washington, D.C.[10] She divorced Rice when her daughter, Susan, was ten years old.[10] On January 7, 1978, Rice married Alfred B. Fitt,[6] who died in 1992. With Fitt, she had four stepchildren: Cathleen, Benjamin, Craig, and Ann.[1] Lois Rice died on January 4, 2017,[5] in a hospital in Washington, D.C., of pneumonia and cancer.[1]

Notable publications

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Smith, Harrison (January 11, 2017), "Lois Dickson Rice, lobbyist behind federal grants for college students, dies at 83", The Washington Post, retrieved April 5, 2017
  2. ^ Smith, Harrison (January 13, 2017), "Lois Rice, at 83; helped create, guide Pell Grants", The Boston Globe, retrieved April 5, 2017
  3. ^ a b c d Hagerty, James R. (January 20, 2017), "Lois Rice Helped Create Pell Grants for Low-Income College Students", The Wall Street Journal, retrieved April 5, 2017
  4. ^ a b c Roberts, Sam (January 18, 2017), "Lois Dickson Rice, Trailblazing Executive Behind Pell Grants, Dies at 83", The New York Times, retrieved April 5, 2017
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lois Dickson Rice, Brookings, retrieved April 5, 2017
  6. ^ a b c d e Alfred Fitt, U.S. Lawyer, Weds Lois Rice, College Board Executive, The New York Times, January 8, 1978
  7. TIME
    , retrieved April 5, 2017
  8. ^ a b c Grigsby Gates, Karen (September 7, 2022). "In 50 years, the Pell Grant has helped over 80 million people go to college". NPR.
  9. ^ "PHS Yearbook "Totem" 1950". December 1936. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ^ a b c d e Roig-Franzia, Manuel (November 29, 2012), "Susan Rice: Not your typical diplomat", The Washington Post, retrieved April 5, 2017

External links

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