[1] Born in Milo, Tippo moved to Boston a year later, and graduated from Jamaica Plain High School in 1928.
Tippo was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi honor societies.
In 1949, Tippo published the widely used textbook College Botany with Harry J. Fuller.
In 1955, he moved to Yale University as Eaton Professor of Botany, Director of the Marsh Botanical Garden, and Fellow of Berkeley College.
From 1964 to 1970, Tippo served as provost of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and then became the institution's first chancellor until 1971.