Noel Rice was a consultant ophthalmologist and medical director at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London and a pioneer in the development of microscope-assisted eye surgery. He was born on 26 December 1931 in Norwich, the son of Raymond Arthur Cracroft Rice, an anaesthetist, and Doris Ivy Rice née Slater, a nurse. His brother, John Cracroft Rice, also became a surgeon. Rice was educated at Haileybury and then went up to Clare College, Cambridge and St Bartholomew’s Hospital for his clinical studies. At Barts he was a house physician to Sir Ronald Bodley Scott and a house surgeon to Alec Badenoch. In 1957 he began his career in ophthalmology under Hyla (Henry) Stallard and continued his training as a junior specialist in the RAF as a flight lieutenant. On his return to civilian life, he joined the staff of Moorfields, where he remained for the rest of his career, becoming a consultant in 1967. At the Institute of Ophthalmology he was a senior lecturer, clinical teacher and, from 1991, dean. He was made a fellow of the Institute of Ophthalmology in 1996. As ophthalmology became more specialised, he was one of the first corneal specialists in Europe and helped open the era of microsurgery for eye conditions. He also specialised in the care of children with congenital glaucoma. He helped establish the corneal service at Moorfields and also the congenital glaucoma service, which became one of the largest in the world. He pioneered the use of anti-scarring therapy in the form of a focal dose of beta radiation, a precursor of modern anti-scarring regimens. He retired in 1996, but continued in ophthalmology as a consultant at the St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem until 2002. He was made a Knight of the Order of St John in recognition of his service to the hospital. In 1989 he became a member of the international organisation Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis. For his contribution to ophthalmology in Iceland, he was awarded the Order of the Falcon by the Icelandic government. He was also a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore. He enjoyed fly fishing and music and sung in various choirs. He was married twice. In 1957 he married Karin Elsa Brita Linell (Brita). They had three children, Andrew, Karin and David, two of whom followed their father into medicine. After Brita’s death in 1992, he married Countess Ulla Mörner, in 1997. Rice died on 5 November 2017 from motor neurone disease. He was 85.