[1] Ivan Urumov was born in the town of Lovech in Ottoman Bulgaria to a well-off family.

During and shortly after the Liberation of Bulgaria Ivan Urumov worked as a teacher in his home town (1877–1879).

He then studied natural sciences in Vienna (1879–1880) and graduated in botany in at the Heidelberg University (1883–1885), where he prepared, but due to financial difficulties, did not defend a doctoral dissertation.

[2] After returning to Bulgaria, he worked as teacher for 40 years in Lovech, Gabrovo, Ruse and Tarnovo.

Ivan Urumov authored the first Bulgarian textbooks on botany, zoology and mineralogy.