Edward J. Rice (October 23, 1918 – August 8, 2001) was an American author, publisher, photojournalist and painter, born in Brooklyn, New York to Edward J. Rice, Sr. and Elsie (Becker) Rice. He was best known as a close friend and biographer of

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and g ...

. Rice wrote more than 20 books, including ''Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton,'' a best-selling 1990 biography of the famous 19th-century explorer, and was the founder (1953) of ''Jubilee'' magazine.

Life

Rice attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, where he became close friends with Merton,

Robert Lax Robert Lax (November 30, 1915 – September 26, 2000) was an American poet, known in particular for his association with Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton. Another friend of his youth was the painter Ad Reinhardt. After a long period of dri ...

, and

Robert Giroux Robert Giroux (April 8, 1914 – September 5, 2008) was an American book editor and publisher. Starting his editing career with Harcourt, Brace & Co., he was hired away to work for Roger W. Straus, Jr. at Farrar & Straus in 1955, where he beca ...

(who later co-founded

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

). Rice was editor of the ''

Jester A jester, court jester, fool or joker was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain guests during the medieval and Renaissance eras. Jesters were also itinerant performers who entertained common folk at fairs ...

'' humor magazine in his senior year; he graduated in 1940. He stood godfather for both Merton and Lax when each converted to Catholicism; Merton in 1938, and Lax five years later.Harford, James. "Ed Rice: A Remembrance", Thomas Merton Center
/ref> Rice chronicled his friendship with Merton in the 1970 book ''The Man in the Sycamore Tree: The Good Times and Hard Life of Thomas Merton.'' Also in 1970, he published ''John Frum He Come,'' a book documenting the South Pacific

cargo cult A cargo cult is an indigenist millenarian belief system, in which adherents perform rituals which they believe will cause a more technologically advanced society to deliver goods. Causes, beliefs, and practices Cargo cults are marked by ...

s. Rice died August 8, 2001, in

Sagaponack, New York Sagaponack is a village in the Town of Southampton in Suffolk County, on the East End of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population of the village was 313 at the 2010 census. Sagaponack is also the name of a popular seafood resta ...

USA.

References

External links

Ed Rice profile
by Mary Cummings, published in the Columbia alumni magazine, May 2001

1918 births 2001 deaths American photojournalists 20th-century American biographers People from Brooklyn People from Suffolk County, New York Journalists from New York City Historians from New York (state) Columbia College (New York) alumni {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub