Ray was born on December 3, 1923, and grew up in Pleasant Plains, Illinois. He went into the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, where he served as a bomber pilot. After his service, he had a long and distinguished career in the machine tool industry in the Midwest with Allis Chalmers and Illinois Tool Works, where he rose to become Senior Vice President.

In 1977, Ray moved to Cedar Rapids to become president of Iowas Preicsion, later to become CEO of Met-Coil Systems, the parent company of Iowa Precision. He was highly recognized in the machine tool industry, including as chariman of the Association for Manufacturing Technology. He retired from Met-Coil at the age of 81.

Ray lived a very active lifestyle, always on or near water an avid boater, hunter, fisherman and pilot.