The daughter of a Portland janitor and maid who rose to become a national champion for eduction has died. Lois Dickson Rice, born in Portland in 1933 and raised on Lafayette Street, died Jan. 4.

Her daughter, Susan E. Rice, who was United Nations ambassador and later national security adviser to former President Obama, told The New York Times the cause of death was cancer and pneumonia.

The daughter of Jamaican immigrants, Lois Dickson Rice graduated Radcliffe College and joined the College Entrance Examination Board, where she helped create the Pell grant program, which awards college students grants on the basis of financial need.

She promoted the program from its creation in 1972 through 1981 while holding various positions within the board now called the College Board.

A childhood friend remembered Rice on Saturday as a smart, friendly and spirited woman who returned regularly to reunions at Portland High School through the years. “She was a very fine pianist and an exceptional student,” said Judy Halpert, who grew up with Rice on Munjoy Hill and walked to school with her for years. They graduated together from Portland High in 1950. “The family was so sweet and so inclusive of each other.”

The Rice family was among the few families of color on Munjoy Hill in the 1940s, Halpert said. Most people in the neighborhood were Irish.

Everyone got along, and she doesn’t remembering any racial tension involving her friend. If Rice encountered racism in Portland growing up, she never talked about it, Halpert said. “I don’t think Lois felt anything was wrong,” she said. “We stayed friends for a long time.”

Rice also held director positions with 11 of the largest corporations in the U.S. from 1978 to 2003.

Since 1992, she had been a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.


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