09/14/2026
Just last month, we had the privilege of sharing a few words Joe Rice offered about In The Black. At the time, we were grateful for his encouragement. Today, those words carry an entirely different weight.
Joe was the kind of person whose belief in people mattered because he gave it with intention. When he encouraged you, invested in you, opened a door or stood in your corner, you felt it.
To the legal world, Joe was a giant. A visionary attorney. A legendary negotiator. A husband, father, grandfather and philanthropist. But even those titles do not fully explain who Joe Rice was.
For all the rooms he commanded, the battles he won and the things he accomplished, Joe understood that a meaningful life was not measured by what you accumulated. It was measured by what you gave away: your time, your knowledge, your opportunities, your friendship and your belief in other people.
Joe gave all of those things generously.
Then there was the cowboy. The horseman. The outdoorsman. The man who loved the land, a good adventure and bringing people together.
That spirit lives throughout Bulls Bay.
It can be felt at Bulls Bay Golf Club, in the traditions and friendships built there, and in Bulls Bay Rodeo, which Joe founded not simply to create an event, but to create something memorable for this community.
Because that is what Joe did. He built things.
He built cases that changed lives. He built opportunities for generations of people he would never meet. He built traditions, relationships and a legacy that will continue long after him.
Seventy-two years does not feel like nearly enough for a man who seemed larger than life. But men like Joe Rice do not simply disappear…
They remain in the institutions they strengthened, the people they mentored, the opportunities they created and the traditions they started.
So when the gates open again, when the horses enter the arena, when friends gather at Bulls Bay and when another generation experiences something Joe helped build, he will still be there.
For those of us who were fortunate enough to feel his encouragement and support, we will carry that with us too.
He was legendary.
