John Rice, one of the richest little guys in the world RIP

[Brettfern]

John Edward Rice, who came into the world small, lived large.

Born with dwarfism and abandoned by his parents, Mr. Rice and his twin brother, Greg Rice, went on to become self-made millionaires and homegrown celebrities. The two men, inseparable partners in business and life, become recognizable icons through their wacky commercials and public appearances, in which the more cautious Greg played the foil to crazy John.

Now Greg Rice will be a solo act.

John Rice died Saturday (5) at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach. He was 53.

Greg Rice said his brother fell and broke his leg coming out of a Palm Beach bank Friday. He was scheduled for surgery Saturday and died as they started administering the anesthesia, Greg Rice said.

"John loved doing things that people didn't expect him to do," said Greg Rice, who lives in West Palm Beach. "He loved life; he loved encouraging others."

Madeleine Garbarino of Lake Worth, who has known the Rice brothers for 25 years, remembered John Rice as a marvelous host who would climb up on a stool and master a grill taller than he was. Like most, she forgot the brothers were 2-feet, 10-inches tall, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's shortest living twins.

Soon after she met them, the brothers said they wanted to take Garbarino to lunch. A sleek Rolls Royce pulled up and John was at the wheel, the car equipped with special gas and brake pedals to fit his frame. Greg sat in the back.

John Rice eagerly promoted the revitalization of Lake Worth, living in one of the several houses he renovated there after selling his million-dollar home in Manalapan about five years ago. He was active on city committees and a stool was kept in the City Commission chambers, said Mayor Marc Drautz, so Mr. Rice could reach the microphone.

"He was not afraid to give his opinion but he always did it in a nice way," Drautz said. The flag at City Hall will be flown at half-staff today in Mr. Rice's honor.

John Rice was the older twin, born five minutes before his brother. They both had a condition marked by curved spines and heads out of proportion to their bodies. The pair was abandoned at birth at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

The Rice brothers credited Frank and Mildred Windsor, a school janitor and his wife who adopted the brothers at eight months, for imbuing them with a sense of self-confidence and optimism. The Windsors, who had two children, died when the brothers were teens.

John Rice always was slightly more outgoing than his brother, a little more exuberant. As a teen, Greg watched boys dropping 15 feet from a tree into a canal; John joined them. Greg wore khakis on casual Fridays; John wore jeans. Greg married and has a 17-year-old son, Gregory Jr. John once told a reporter: "It's either a wife or a boat. I have a boat."

John Rice combined his ingenuity and people skills and, working with his brother, built the life he wanted. Starting by selling cosmetics door-to-door, the Rices later went into real estate and set record sales in West Palm Beach. They also founded Think Big Inc., a motivational company, and did up to 70 seminars a year.

The brothers appeared on numerous national television programs, had their own real estate show called Television Home Hunt, hosted 52 episodes of That Quiz Show and played landlords in the 1981 sitcom Foul Play.

But local viewers probably know them best for their broadly comic Hulett pest control commercials, which they wrote and performed since 1990. John Rice usually is the one being blown up, dropped, or almost setting himself on fire while Greg Rice tries to stay calm. The brothers have dressed up as insects, horses, big-game hunters and Elvis.

John Rice was scheduled to emcee the Lake Worth holiday parade this year with his brother, as they have for more than a decade. Garbarino said Greg Rice told her he would be there. And there will be an empty stool next to him, with John's clipboard on top.

A memorial service is planned for today. Details are pending. Instead of flowers, the Rice family asks that donations be made to the Bill Barty Memorial Adoption Fund run by the Little People of America Inc. For more information, go to www.lpaonline.org

[Kurtman]

Rest In Peace,John Rice. From what i've heard,not many people suffering from dwarfism reach the age of 53.............he was pretty lucky.

[Pupmon 4.0]

R.I.P. John Rice

[Frank Castle]

Sorry to hear about that.