Born in Dallas, Texas, Gray moved with his family to New Orleans at the outbreak of WW2 so that his father, a meteorologist with the US government, could forecast weather for Navy pilots training at Lake Pontchartrain. After graduating from college in North Carolina, Gray worked in public relations and corporate communications in Arizona, Sacramento, San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Upon leaving National Semiconductor in Santa Clara, he opened a consulting business in Roseville serving clients in the Bay Area and Sacramento. Gray was married for 50 years to Eleanor Stem, who died from cancer in 2009. Gray has been in a committed relationship for 14 years with Shirley Daniels, a Divine Savior parishioner. Gray and Eleanor have two sons, a businessman and a lawyer, and five grandchildren. Shirley has four children and eight grandchildren. Gray serves on several boards of directors, including the Placer County Water Agency and Sites Reservoir Project JPA. He has also served on the Roseville Planning Commission and several local charity boards. In his spare time, he enjoys golf with friends and fly fishing.