John Benjamin Fay was born on April 14, 1889 on a farm in Delhi Township to John Michael Fay and Elizabeth Menger Fay. He attended Holt High School and later went off to two-year business college. John married Ruth Lillian Parman on December 25, 1913 in Lucas County, Ohio. The couple had four children, Charles W. Fay, John W. Fay, Lucien P. Fay, and Mary E. Fay.

John was a lifelong Democrat. In 1917, he ran for and was elected as Supervisor of Delhi Township, an office in which he served until 1922. He was defeated in 1922 by his cousin Claude Menger, who served from 1922 to 1929. John returned to office as Supervisor in 1931. He held the office until his retirement on January 1, 1958. To date, John Fay is the longest serving Delhi Township Supervisor, with 31 years total in office.

During his three decades, he filled every important post on the Ingham County Board of Supervisors. He served on nearly every committee and served as chairman for the Ways and Means, Health, Roads and Bridges committees at the county.

Fay was always involved in the Holt community. He was a member of the Holt Methodist Church and served on the church Board of Trustees and Board of Stewards. He was a lifelong member of the Holt Masonic Lodge and charter member of the Holt Odd Fellows Lodge. He also served on the board for the Ingham Medical Hospital and the Holt School Board for a number of years.

In 1930, John and Ruth Fay had a boarder living with them in Holt. The boarder was Miss Alberta Phillips, a teacher at Holt High School, the first band director in Holt from 1929 to 1933. In 1949, the Holt Board of Education was looking for land to build a new school. John Fay and Holt Superintendent of Schools Benton Yates reached an agreement and the land along Aurelius Road on Spahr Avenue was sold to the school district and Midway School was built on the site, opening in 1949.

John B. Fay died on February 27, 1963 in Lansing and is buried in Maple Ridge Cemetery.

The Holt-Delhi Historical Society holds the Fay Family Collection, which includes a scrapbook of materials belonging to John B. Fay, and material relating to his ancestors, and children John W. Fay and Betty Fay.