He started an apprenticeship in 1728 with flax shopkeeper Oluf Hansen Aagaard on Gammeltorv in Copenhagen.

On 22 November 1748, he married the flax shopkeeper's daughter, Anna Dorthea Aagaard.

He traded in a wide range of products, including tar, linum, hemp, coal, lead and salt.

He was also active as a broker and was director of Søe-Assurance Compagniet and a sugar refinery in Store Kongensgade (Interessenters Sukkerhus).

Being the only surviving son among Johan Peter Suhr's eight children, he became sole owner of the family business after his father's death on 28 May 1785.