A native Detroiter, Ronald Scarbough attended Detroit Public Schools where his artistic ability was discovered early (in first grade!). Because of his obvious natural gifts, he was placed in advanced classes for the gifted after his regular school hours and on Saturdays throughout his public education career. Upon graduation from high school he attended the Society of Arts and Crafts (now CCS), Wayne State University, the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Maryland, all in the pursuit of studying drawing.

Ron joined the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam era and served as a technical illustrator, illustrating military books and manuals. He utilized his four years in the military to perfect his drawing techniques, especially his crosshatching technique.

After he was discharged from the military, Ron exhibited his first one-man show at Detroit's Ford Auditorium. The show was sponsored by the Women's League of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. His association with Margaret Conzulman at the Detroit Artists Market gave him wide exposure and a following of loyal collectors throughout the state of Michigan.

Ron had a long and impressive list of one-man shows, group shows, awards, commissions and art fair participations. As of 2014, he had illustrated 10 books. His one-man shows included shows at the Flint Institute of Arts and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. His commissions included ones for the Detroit Athletic Club and the Citadel Military Academy of Charleston, South Carolina.

He taught studio drawing classes at the Detroit Institute of Arts in addition to giving gallery demonstrations and instructing adults for the DIA's "Friday" programs.

Through Ron's friendship with John Falter, a Saturday Evening Post illustrator, Ron spent several summers on Nantucket Island with Harold and Carol Berger, showing his works at their Hemmingway Gallery. John Falter also invited Ron to participate in a group show in Philadelphia where he was given a surprise honorary meeting with Norman Rockwell.

Ron's drawings portray the American spirit with every nationality and age group. Tender moments of caring, love for one another, gentle expressions, love of family or a saddened lonely child are the cornerstones of Ron's subject matter. The emotions in his works are clearly captured in each of his subject's eyes. Each work tells a silent story.

His recent drawings formed a collection entitled "Dignity: Portrait of a People." These works are portraits of African-Americans struggling to lives for themselves from Emancipation until the early 1920s. Another late body of works (from 2012) is entitled "Orphans of the Holocaust". Ron was a convert to Judaism.