According to the Dallas Morning News (http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dallasmorningnews/obituary.aspx?n=william-rice-bill&pid=174401191), he died last February (I was surprised to learn of his death after seeing the letters "RIP" in the comments section for a recording of his voice on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78CAx4_Gjl0) today and surprised by the very fact that I had just learned about nearly two months after his death).

Here is a link (http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=4150799) to a video recording about William Rice's career in broadcasting that was originally televised in the year 2008.