The youngest of his siblings, Max was born in 1889. As a young boy, his hobby was to engrave on steel and gunmetal. His other hobbies included golf and bird watching.

As his father, F.E. Mason, was dying, Max said to his brother Roy, "Teach me to paint." Roy answered, "Try it. It'll help." Following a heart attack in the mid 1940s, Max took up painting even more, working exclusively in oils.

He was involved in community affairs with a position on the Board of Directors at Genesee Memorial Hospital, a charter member of the Stafford Country Club and of Seven Springs Country Club.

He won a Gold Medal of Honor in 1956 from the Buffalo Fine Arts League. He was a member of the Batavia Society of Artists, the Pan-Arts Society, and the North Shore Arts Association of Gloucester, MA.

Max passed away from a heart attack November 9, 1958.