Judith Rice

Rice was born July 30, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois, to Fred Rice Jr. and Thelma Rice.[2] She is the granddaughter of sharecroppers.[2] Rice's father was a Chicago police officer, and would, in 1983, become Chicago's first black head of police.[2]

Rice attended Avalon Park Elementary School and Mercy High School.[2] In high school, she was a drama club member, and was the lead in her high school production of Hello, Dolly![2] Rice graduated high school in 1975, and attended Northern Illinois University from 1975 to 1976, transferring in 1977 to Loyola University Chicago, where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in communications in 1981.[1][2]

In 1984, Rice began attending Chicago's John Marshall Law School, earning her juris doctor in 1988 and being admitted to Illinois State Bar Association.[1][2]

In 1982 Rice was hired for a job in the Cook County State's Attorney office, first working as a victim/witness assistant.[2] She worked her way up to being hired to be an assistant to the Illinois Attorney General's office.[2] She held that job from 1988 through 1989.[1]

From 1989 through 1990, Rice served as Assistant Corporation Counsel of Chicago.[1][2] From 1990 through 1992, she served as the city's Director of Administrative Adjunction.[1] From 1992 through 1993, she served as deputy director of the city's Department of Revenue.[1] From 1993 through 1995, she served as the city's Director of the Department of Revenue of Chicago.[2] From 1995 through 1996, she worked as a member of mayor Richard M. Daley's staff as his executive assistant.[1][2]

From 1996 through 1999, Rice served as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Water, the first female commissioner in the department's history.[2] From December 1999 through 2000, she served as head of the Chicago Department of Transportation, also being that department's first female head.[2][3]

In November 2000, mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Rice to serve as Chicago City Treasurer, after Miriam Santos was forced to resign after pleading guilty to mail fraud.[2][4] Rice was confirmed in a unanimous vote by the Chicago City Council and sworn into office on November 15, 2000.[5]

Rice won reelection to the office in 2003, running unopposed.[6] Rice co-chaired the Champions program of the 2006 Gay Games.[7] On October 26, 2006, Rice announced her resignation as City Treasurer. Daley appointed Stephanie Neely as her successor.[8] Rice then joined Daley's administration as a Deputy Mayor. She left that position the following year.[1]

Rice served as Senior Vice President, director of government relations, head of community affairs and head of economic development for BMO Harris Bank.[7][9][10] She began her tenure at BMO Harris in 2007.[10]

In 2014, Rice was elected to a vacant seat on the 7th subcircuit of the Circuit Court of Cook County.[1][11] She defeated Marianne Jackson and Owens J. Shelby in the Democratic primary.[11] The runner-up, Jackson, was ultimately appointed to another seat on the 7th subcircuit on October 22, 2014, to which she would reelected in 2016, and serve on until retiring in 2018.[12] The election was to the seat vacated by William H. Taylor II upon his 2012 appointment to the Illinois Appellate Court. That seat had been filled, in the interim period before a newly-elected occupant could be sworn-in on December 1, 2014, by Freddrenna Lyle, who on September 10, 2012, had been appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to the serve seat effective November 16, 2012.[13][14] Instead of seeking reelection to the seat in 2014, Lyle instead ran unsuccessfully for an Illinois Appellate Court seat in 2014.[15]

On the court, Rice has been assigned to the Domestic Relations Division.[16] In 2020, Rice was successful in winning her retention election.[1]

Rice has served on the advisory board of the Chicago Children's Advocacy Center.[17]

In 2013, Rice publicly came out as a lesbian.[7] She revealed that, by the time, she had been in a relationship with her partner Barb Heller for ten years.[7] In January 2013, Rice signed an open letter encouraging Illinois to legalize same-sex marriage.[18]

In 2019, the Cook County State's Attorney office named Rice one of the recipients of its Pride Recognition Awards, which recognized "outstanding LGBT community group and leaders, attorneys, and judges" from Cook County.[19]

• List of LGBT jurists in the United States