Tuckerman was born on May 2, 1921 in Boston. His father Bayard Tuckerman, Junior. was a jockey, businessman, and politician who helped found Suffolk Downs. His mother, Phyllis (Sears) Tuckerman was the daughter of Herbert Sears, an early financier of the first textile mills in Lowell and one of the richest men in Boston.
Tuckerman attended Harvard University, where he was a member of the Porcellian Club and the Hasty Pudding Institute.
Tuckerman grew up in Boston and Hamilton, Massachusetts. In 1941 he left college to join the United States Army. He served under General George Patton, who was a fellow resident of Hamilton.
On Victory in Europe Day, Tuckerman took custody of Reich Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick, who was later hanged.
They would have two children. Tuckerman served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1953 to 1957 and the Massachusetts Senate from 1957 to 1959.
He was a delegate to the 1956 Republican National Convention. He was a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1958, but dropped out at the convention.
Tuckerman"s wife died in 1998.
On August 4, 2007 he was diagnosed with leukemia. Four days later he died at a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts.
