Gerrit van der Tuuk was the son of supervisor Gerrit van der Tuuk and Luiktje Alsema. He was unmarried.
He taught mathematics and physics at a Christian secondary school (HBS). Van der Tuuk lived in Stadskanaal and was a member of the Reformed Church.
He was a member of the National Organization for Aid to People in Hiding (Landelijke Organisatie voor Hulp aan Onderduikers) and worked for the underground press. In addition, he cared for people in hiding and served as a contact point for the Ordedienst (a Dutch resistance group).
On April 15, 1944, he was arrested by the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). He was imprisoned in the Scholtenhuis in Groningen. Until May 3, 1944, he was held in the local detention center, and then until mid-October in Amersfoort. On October 11, 1944, he was deported along with more than 1,400 others to the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg, where he died of exhaustion on March 6, 1945.
In Stadskanaal, in the province of Groningen, a street is named in his honor: Gerrit van der Tuuklaan.
