Elisabeth Luce was born in China to Presbyterian Board missionaries, April 4, 1903. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1924, where she later served on the Board of Trustees. She married Maurice T. Moore in 1926; they had two sons, Thompson and Michael.

She is the sister of Henry R. Luce, founder of , and early in her career she worked as editor and writer for his periodicals. She was also active in volunteer social work, working with such agencies as the New York Junior League and the National and International YWCA, serving as chair of the YWCA's foreign division in 1944. She was chair of the Nation Council of the USO during World War II, and she served on the advisory committee of the Economic Cooperation Administration, which administered the Marshall Plan. She was a delegate to the International Conference of Women in 1951. Luce Moore served as board chair of the Institute of International Education, which administers such exchange programs as the Fulbright Scholar Program. She has also served as vice-president of United Services to China, and as trustee of the China Institute of America, the Asia Foundation, and the United Board for Christian Higher Education. In 1968 she was appointed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller as chair of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York, the first woman to hold that job.

She holds honorary degrees from Columbia University, Duke University, Princeton University, Trinity University, the State University of New York, Claremont Graduate Center, Wellesley College, Hamilton College, Adelphi College, Western College, and Silliman University in the Philippines. She has also received numerous awards for her work, among them the Elisabeth Blackwell Medal from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the National Institute of Social Sciences Medal, the Readers' Digest Award, and the Order of the Brilliant Star from the People's Republic of China. Elisabeth Luce Moore died on February 9, 2002.