Isaac Leopold Rice (February 22, 1850 – November 2, 1915) was a German-born Jewish American businessman, investor, musicologist, author, and chess patron.

He was educated at the Central High School in Philadelphia and at nineteen he was sent to Paris, where he studied music for three years.

[1] On his return to America a year later he moved to New York City and practiced music before going back to school to become a lawyer.

[4] In the practice of law he became more aware of and involved in the transportation business, mainly in the expanding railroad empires and their multiplying legal imbroglios.

He also contributed a large number of articles to the Century, The Forum, of which he was a founder,[1] and North American Review.

Rice campaigned successfully against the horns and whistles of ships and founded the Society for Suppression of Unnecessary Noise (1907).

[12] They had six children: Muriel "Polly"[13] (1888–1926),[9] Dorothy "Dolly"[13] (1889–1960),[9][14] Isaac Leopold Jr., Marion "Molly"[13] (1891–1990),[15] Marjorie "Lolly"[13] (1893–1980) and Julian.

[14][15] Isaac and Julia, Muriel and Dorothy are buried in a family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Ocala, Florida.

The obituary does not give the cause of death, but does state that he sold his Electric Boat stock for two million dollars (in 1915 money) a few months prior to it.

He became president of the Manhattan Chess Club, and presented for competition several trophies, including the one that was competed for annually by cable by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, representing England, and those of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia, representing the United States.

Emanuel Lasker and Mikhail Chigorin were two of many players who contested these tournaments, with bonus prizes for white wins.