Ray Cruz was born in New York City in 1933 and grew up in Spanish Harlem, where he began drawing at age five. He studied at the High School of Art and Design and at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, graduating from Cooper Union with a degree in fine and graphic arts.
Before illustrating children's books he worked in textile and wallpaper design and produced advertising, fashion and cosmetic-package illustration for New York agencies. He illustrated more than twenty children's books, most notably Judith Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (1972).
