Born in a modest neighborhood of Mexico City in 1936, F. Gonzalez-Crussi was raised by his widowed mother, who owned a small drugstore.

In 2014 he was awarded the Merck Literary Prize in Rome, for his book Carrying the Heart (translated as Organi Vitali, Adelphi, Milan, 2014).

On November 19, 2019 he was awarded the "Pedro Henriquez Ureña International Prize for the Essay" given by the Mexican Academy of Language (Academia Mexicana de la Lengua)[citation needed] In the medical field, in addition to about 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals of his medical speciality, he wrote two books: In the literary field, his work has been chiefly in the essay genre, in both English and Spanish.

In the Spanish language, his work has appeared in various periodical publications of Mexico (Letras Libres, Cambio, Tierra Adentro, Luvina) and Peru (Etiqueta Negra) Theater play: The work of Gonzalez Crussi was adapted for the stage in 1995 by a theatrical company of Chicago (Live Bait Company, director Sharon Evans), under the name "Memento Mori".

The BBC production (director Kevin Hull) was entitled "Day of the Dead", which was filed in the British Film Institute archive.