A resident both of Pittsburgh and Fort Worth, Ira McDade was born in Pittsburgh and studied there at the School of Art. In Pittsburgh, McDade studied at the Horetta Stevens School of Art and afterward under Martin B Leisser, Christian J. Walter, Clarence M. Johns and well-known Pittsburgh still-life painter A. F. King. McDade later attended the Academie Julian Paris, as well as in Leipzig and Munich.

He relocated to Fort Worth around 1926. His work appeared in the Annual Texas Artists Exhibition, Fort Worth 1934-37, and the Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas 1936. His work also appeared annually in Associated Artist of Pittsburgh exhibitions at the Carnegie Institute.