Donald Theodore Ryce Jr.'s Obituary
Don Ryce was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 15, 1943. His mother, Martha Ryce was a fashion model, and his father Donald Theodore, Sr. was a businessman.
Don always wanted to be a lawyer and received his law degree from the University of Florida.
He married Reba Mae Morgan (from Lexington, Kentucky) and they had two children, Ted and Martha. They later divorced in 1981. Sadly, Reba died in a car accident in 1991.
In 1983, Don married Claudine Walker and together with Don raised his two children in Miami.
Don worked as a labor relations attorney and had a successful law practice with many Fortune 500 clients. Life was good. The family thrived and they traveled the world together.
Tragedy struck the family on September 11, 1995 when Don’s youngest son, Jimmy, was abducted and murdered. This captured the attention of people around the world.
From that moment on, the family devoted their efforts to helping other families of missing children and founded the Jimmy Ryce Center for Victims of Predatory Abduction. One of the main goals of the center was to provide bloodhounds, free of charge, to law enforcement agencies. To date, the Jimmy Ryce Center has donated over 600 bloodhounds.
Don fought tirelessly to change legislation to protect children from predators and attended two bill-signing ceremonies at the White House. One was with President George W. Bush and the other with President Bill Clinton.
Don’s wife, Claudine, died of a heart attack in 2009.
Sadly, in 2013, Martha took her life, due in part to the murder of her younger brother.
Despite all of the pain he endured in his life, Don Ryce never lost his sense of humor, never stopped caring for his family and always had a smile on his face.
Don loved his children, loved to travel, loved history(particularly World War II) wine and fine dining.
To keep his legacy going please consider donating to:
JimmyRyce.org/donate
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