Anthonie van Laar was born on 6 September 1923 at Leersum, Netherlands and attended school at H.B.S. in Utrecht.
He studied Forestry at the universities of Wageningen, Netherlands (1941-1949, MSc 1949), Stellenbosch (DSc 1961) and München, Germany (Dr. oec.publ. 1973, summa cum laude, Dr. habil. 1979).
Area of specialisation : Forest Biometry, growth modeling

Anthonie van Laar was professor at the Department of Forestry of Stellenbosch University from 1977 until his retirement in 1988 and head of the project group Production of High Yielding Trees of the International Union of Forestry Research organisation.