Background
The son of Helen and Duncan Van McRae, he was born in Detroit, Michigan in the United States.
The son of Helen and Duncan Van McRae, he was born in Detroit, Michigan in the United States.
McRae attended the Detroit Public Schools and attended but did not graduate from Detroit Medical College.
In 1883, while serving as advertising manager of The Cincinnati Post, McRae met thirty-year-old East. West. Scripps, who had taken over as managing editors The two began a business relationship that would last for many years. In 1887, Scripps made McRae the managing director of the Saint Louis Chronicle, a paper Scripps had purchased in 1880.
In 1907, the Scripps-McRae League of newspapers combined three regional press associations into the United Press Association.
McRae was President of the Detroit Board of Commerce from 1911 to 1912. He became the third National president of the Boy Scouts of America upon the death of James J. Storrow in 1926.