Susan Lurie was born in New York. She studied at universities in the US, received a PhD in biology from City University of New York, and came to live in Israel the last week of 1972 to take up a postdoctoral position at the Hebrew University. She worked there until 1980 when she moved to the Agricultural Research Organization (Volcani Center) as a senior researcher. She retired at the end of 2010, but has continued as a volunteer in her department which is the Department of Postharvest Science of Fresh Produce. She is on the ESRA board in Rehovot. She has three children and, currently, three grandchildren.