Leonard M. Rice is a lawyer of Jefferson City, where his birth occurred February 9, 1887, his parents being Jefferson D. and Zara (McKenzie) Rice, both of whom were natives of Cole county, Missouri, as were their parents, their respective families having been represented in this state for many years. Leonard M. Rice was graduated front the high school of Jefferson City 1n 1904. He went to Chicago in 1909 and took up the study of law in the John Marshall Law school, from which he was graduated in 1912 with the LL.B. degree. He returned to Jefferson City and became connected with the Central Missouri Trust Company in their abstract and title department, where he continued until February, 1917, when he opened a law office, and in April of that year he was elected to the position of city attorney.
In May, 1917, Mr. Rice enlisted and went to Fort Riley, where he was in training until August, 1917, when he was commissioned first lieutenant and assigned to the Three Hundred and Fifty-third Infantry of the Eighty-ninth Division. He went overseas in June, 1918, and remained with his division all through the Argonne drive and the St. Mihiel offensive together with other engagements. In February, 1919, Mr. Rice returned with his regiment to Newport News and was honorably discharged at Camp Funston, Kansas, on the 10th of that month.
Again coming to Jefferson City, Mr. Rice here took up the practice of law and assumed the duties of the office of city attorney. In April, 1919, he was once more elected to the position. In the fall of 1920 he was nominated on the democratic ticket for the office of prosecuting attorney but was defeated in the general landslide of that year. Mr. Rice is a member of the Christian Science church.