[2] Ray is a partner and member of the board of directors at the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
[3] Raised in Tom Creek, Georgia, Ray graduated from George Washington University School of Law.
[4] On January 8, 1979, Ray was appointed by the District of Columbia Democratic State Committee to the at-large council seat vacated by Marion Barry, who had been sworn in as mayor a few days earlier.
[7] Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly had backed another at-large council member, Linda Cropp, for the appointment and thought she had lined up the votes on the council, but Charlene Drew Jarvis switched her vote to Ray[8] because she intended to run for chairman in the special election and viewed Cropp as a threat.
[9] Ray finished his term as at-large member, but he did not run for reelection in 1996.