James E. Ray 1930-2025

He was born April 26, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pa., the first child to Charles and Margaret Ream Ray.

The family moved several years later to Columbus, where Jim spent his formative years and graduated from Linden McKinley High School. Jim started at Ohio State University in 1948, majoring in radio speechwriting, with the intent of being a sports announcer.

His goal was interrupted when he was drafted into the Army in 1951 and sent overseas to Korea during the war. While he was there for two years, he served in the Prisoner of War Command. After being honorably discharged from the military in 1953, Jim finished his degree at Ohio State University.

His experiences in Korea led him to the ministry, and, after graduation, he entered McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. During his time there, Jim married his first wife, Barbara Gerlach. He graduated and was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1960.

His first appointment after seminary was as assistant minister at First Presbyterian Church in Galesburg, Illinois. In 1963, he joined The McKinley Foundation at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana to provide a Christian faith perspective on the many facets of life at a major university. That same year, Jim began his lifelong commitment to peace, social justice, diversity and equality when he joined the March on Washington and heard Martin Luther King Jr. speak. The experience prompted him in 1964 to join a call for ministers to go to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and walk with black people who were attempting to vote. In 1965, he also joined the Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Later that same year, he worked in Virginia to train young people to help register black voters.

In August 1968, Jim moved back to Chicago with his family, which now included two sons and a daughter, in order to pursue a year of graduate study at McCormick Theological Seminary. While there, he formulated his role in campus ministry, which helped him later secure his next jobs at the University of Pittsburgh, both as urban campus minister and as a pastor at University and City Ministries in Oakland. In Pittsburgh, Jim continued his devotion to social justice efforts through multiple programs and volunteer efforts, including People’s Oakland to support university engagement with surrounding neighbors, and the Community of Reconciliation, which promoted diverse racial and religious Christian fellowship.

During his time in Pittsburgh, after 17 years of marriage, Jim and Barbara divorced in 1975. In 1980, Jim took a step away from the ministry to join the staff of The Program for Female Offenders, which supported formerly incarcerated women as they reentered the community. Jim eventually returned to campus ministry when he moved to Youngstown in 1983 to become the director of Cooperative Campus Ministry (CCM) at Youngstown State University. His tenure there brought about further social justice efforts, such as the weekly Racial Awareness Program, which evolved into the Coalition for Diversity, to create a more inclusive community. Jim also began a silent vigil for peace by standing at “The Rock” on campus, which was where he later helped bring about the installation of a peace pole to further support peaceful protests. Additionally, while at CCM, he helped to start a free health clinic for students with the support of local medical professionals.

After retiring from his campus ministry career in 1995, Jim continued to serve as a part-time pastor at Lowellville Presbyterian Church until the congregation closed in 2000. Afterward, he became the minister of visitation at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Boardman, where he stayed for three years until his retirement in 2003.

Jim was a lifelong Ohio State Buckeye football and general sports fan, and had a love for ice cream and good puns.

In 2002, he married Suzanne Pool Anzellotti, whom he leaves, along with three children, three stepchildren and 14 grandchildren.

He leaves children, Tim (Leslie) Ray of Madison, Peter (Sue) Ray of Boiling Springs, Pa., and Heather (Jeff) Karp of Menlo Park, California; stepchildren, Robert Anzellotti (Barbara) of Cologne, Germany, Mindy Schlicht of Golden, Colorado, and Jay (Jen) Anzellotti of Rochester, New York; grandchildren, Becca Ray, Kellan Ray, Ethan Ray, Aubrie Ray, Hayley Karp, Peyton Karp, Courtney Karp, Haley Schlicht, Joshua Schlicht, Nicolas Anzellotti, Theadora Anzellotti, Luise Anzellotti, Catherine Anzellotti and Samuel Anzellotti.

His sister, Betsy Dimond, and brother, Donn Ray, predeceased him.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, May 3, 2025, at First Presbyterian Church, 201 Wick Ave., Youngstown, with visitation 10 to 10:45 a.m. Saturday at the church.

Donations in Jim’s name can be made to Sojourn to the Past, 4117 Oak Knoll Drive, Youngstown, OH 44512 or Unitarian Universalist Church of Youngstown, 1105 Elm St., Youngstown, OH 44505.

The family also would like to express its appreciation to the staff at Masternick Memorial in New Middletown for its compassionate care during Jim’s stay.

Arrangements are being handled by Cunningham-Becker Funeral Home, 270 N. Main St., Poland.

Please visit www.beckerorbits.com to share memories and condolences with Jim’s family.

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