DAYTON — The federal building and courthouse on West Second Street has a new name: the Walter H. Rice Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
It is named in honor of Senior United States District Court Judge Walter H. Rice, who was sworn in as a federal judge in 1980.
“To have a building named in my honor in which I’m still working everyday is beyond my ability to grasp, to be honest,” Rice said during a ceremony Friday.
Rice spent his entire career in Montgomery County, beginning in 1964 as an assistant county prosecutor, then a municipal and common pleas court judge before his appointment to the federal court bench.
>> Live Doppler 7 Radar | Interactive
“For over 40 years Judge Walter Rice has served justly over our community with the utmost dignity,” Congressman Mike Turner, R-Dayton, stated in a release. “A panel I convened of our local leaders unanimously chose him as the namesake of this building. I have worked alongside Sens. (Sherrod) Brown and (Rob) Portman to finally give our community’s federal building a name, and I cannot think of a more deserving person to receive this honor than Judge Rice.”
The judge said Friday he has no plans to retire.
