Raack moved to Cleveland the summer of 1968 after graduating from Tallmadge High School to take summer courses at Cooper School of Art on a full Scholarship. That fall he moved to Chicago on the day of the historic Democratic National Convention and began a year of foundation studies at the American Academy of Art on another full scholarship. The following year Raack returned to Cooper School of Art on an extended scholarship to major in Illustration, graduating in 1971. Later on he attended Kent State University on a Graduate Assistantship, majoring in painting, where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1981.