Theodor J. Reisdorf was born in the Uedesheim district of Neuss. Between 1951 and 1954, he trained as an industrial clerk before taking his Abitur in Wilhelmshaven in 1958. He then studied economics and social sciences in Cologne, Hamburg and Mannheim, graduating as a commercial teacher. From 1965 to 1967 he was a trainee teacher in Bielefeld, where he also passed the second state examination, and in the following years taught at business schools in Aachen, Norden and Emden, most recently as a senior teacher. He retired in 1997. Reisdorf lived in the Berum district of Hager in East Frisia.

According to his own statement, he was inspired to write by the Jerry Cotton Award. In 1982, he published his debut novel Land, Leute und Leichen (Land, People and Corpses), creating the genre of the "Frisian crime novel." Reisdorf's novel Tödliche Teestunde served as a free model for Raimund Weber's screenplay for the Tatort episode Mord hinterm Deich, which had its first broadcast on December 25, 1996, directed by Olaf Kreinsen.

Theodor J. Reisdorf died on November 11, 2015 at the age of 80.