Michael Charles Ray (August 27, 1936 – October 7, 2021) was a politician in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. He served in the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

as a Liberal from 1987 to 1990.

Background

Ray graduated from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

, with a B.A. (Hons) in Economics and Political Science. He received a teaching degree from the

Ontario College of Education The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) is Canada's only all-graduate institute of teaching, learning and research. It is located at 252 Bloor Street West on the university's St. George campus in ...

, a law degree from the

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

Law School and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1973. Ray worked as a lawyer and was director of clinical law at the Faculty of Law, Legal Assistance Program of the University of Windsor. He was instrumental in developing the curriculum for clinical law students. His influence helped change the practice to allow legal students more access to clinical experience in all court rooms.

Politics

In 1980, Ray was elected to the Windsor City Council where he served as an alderman in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

from 1980 to 1987. Ray was elected to the Ontario legislature as a Member of the 34th Provincial Parliament in the 1987 provincial election, defeating

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

candidate Donna Champagne by 946 votes in the constituency of Windsor—Walkerville. He served in

David Peterson David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty. Back ...

's government for the next three years. The Liberals were defeated by the NDP in the 1990 provincial election, and Ray lost his seat to Wayne Lessard of the NDP by 4,318 votes. https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/mike-ray-former-city-councillor-and-windsor-mpp-dies#:~:text=Ray%2C%20first%20elected%20to%20Windsor%20council%20in%201980,Windsor-Walkerville%20and%20served%20at%20Queen%E2%80%99s%20Park%20until%201990.

Later life

After his career in politics, Ray returned to practicing law and acted as the lead regional counsel for the Support and Custody Legal Services Branch of the Ministry of the attorney general. Ray was appointed to the board of the Windsor Regional Hospital in 2004, served until 2013 and was a chairman of the board. Ray also served as a director of the Windsor Port Authority from 2006 to 2015, and as a member of the Windsor Police Services Board. He died on October 7, 2021.Michael Charles Ray
obituary

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Mike 1936 births 2021 deaths Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Politicians from Hamilton, Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni University of Windsor alumni Windsor, Ontario city councillors 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario