He was educated at the Colegio Nacional, and then at the Universidad Central de Venezuela where he studied Law, Letters and Languages (ancient and modern Greek and Sanskrit).

Upon finishing his studies, and becoming proficient in Portuguese, Latin, Danish, English, French, German, Italian and Swedish, he worked as a translator and interpreter at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela and later as Consul to Geneva where he died in 1930.

To honor his memory, the University of Salamanca, created the José Antonio Ramos Sucre Professorship of Venezuelan Literature and in 1999, the Fondo de Cultura Económica de México published the book Obra Poética, comprising his poetic works, with a prologue by his cousin Guillermo Sucre.

His collected writings are also available in Obra completa, edited by José Ramón Medina (Caracas: Fundación Biblioteca Ayacucho, 1989) and Obra poética: Edición crítica, edited by Alba Rosa Hernández Bossio (Paris: UNESCO/Colección Archivos, 2001).

In 2006, Venezuelan novelist Rubi Guerra was awarded the Premio de Novela Corta Rufino Blanco Fombona for his novella based on Ramos Sucre's final months in Europe, La tarea del testigo (Caracas: Fundación Editorial El perro y la rana, 2007).