[2] Born in The Hague, Mars Cramer was the son of biologist and Professor P. J. S. Cramer (1879–1952)[3] He received his PhD in Mathematics in 1961 at the University of Amsterdam with a thesis entitled "A Statistical Model of the Ownership of Major Consumer Durables with an Application to some Findings of the 1953 Oxford Savings Survey" under supervision of Pieter de Wolff [nl].

After graduation in 1961 at the University of Amsterdam he was appointed Professor of Econometrics, a newly established chair.

In 1980 Cramer was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences,[1] and later Fellow of the Tinbergen Institute.

In 2012, the Washington Post published his moving account of his wife Til’s euthanasia four years earlier.

"[7][8] Cramer "continued working on new research projects and contributing to the supervision of students until the very last day before his passing.