Jackson was often a speaker at protest rallies for Aboriginal rights. Affectionately known as Uncle Ray, he would always attend the rallies wearing in his trademark black cap, decorated with social justice pins. He was a prominent supporter of the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy, and was a familiar sight there up until his death. In the months before his death, Ray Jackson had not been feeling well, and a week before his death he was hospitalised with pneumonia. Shortly after attending a meeting of the Indigenous Social Justice Association, he died peacefully in his sleep on 23 April 2015. His granddaughter found him in bed that day in his Waterloo flat. At Jackson's request, his body was donated to the University of Sydney.