Ray is an avid collector of rare eighteenth- and nineteenth-century books on exploration in the Arctic. His collecting interest ultimately expanded to speaking engagements and authorship, with articles in "Mercator's World" and "Western New York Heritage" and he has contributed to the PBS NOVA presentation "Arctic Passage: Trials on the Ice." He has published on his book collecting experience and its relation to Arctic exploration in "Biblio" and "Journal of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies." His lectures on Arctic history include speaking engagements at the Westport (Mass.) Historical Society and the Bibliophile Society of Rochester (N.Y.). Besides publishing in the Arctic and book-collecting genres, Ray has also published in a variety of technical journals: "Compendium"; "Imaging Technology"; "Applied Optics"; "Imaging Science"; "International Journal of Climatology"; and "Headache, the Journal of Head and Face Pain."

Ray is President Emeritus of the Bibliophile Society of Rochester where he was a Trustee of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies. For ten years he served as editor of the Genesee Valley Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union newsletter.

Now retired from his scientific endeavors, Ray is occupied not only with his writing and bibliophilic interests but also with travel and has visited more than sixty countries around the globe. He lives with his wife and fellow traveling companion Yvonne in Rochester, New York.