Ivan Tserov was born on 26 March 1857 in the village of Tserova Kuria, V.Tarnovo. He completed the ecclesiastical school at Lyaskovo Monastery. He worked as a teacher in his home village, in Gabrovo, Svishtov, Varna. In Varna we taught Bulgarian language and literature in the Men's and Lady's Grammar Schools.
In 1890 he became inspector in Varna Educational Directorate. In these years he wrote and published a "Reader in Bulgarian Literature for Secondary Schools".
Ivan Tserov was Mayor of Varna in the period 1909 - 1912.
He initiated the organisation of a theatre society which to form a theatre company and work for the construction of a theatre building. On 26 March 1912,the Mayor turned the first sod in the construction of the theatre building.
In the autumn of 1909, in Harami Dere location, the first capture of the Varna water supply pipe was made. The municipal budget for 1910 provided for the construction of new streets, bridges, sewerages, public buildings. In Tserov's term in office 4 hew school buildings and 4 new shops in the districts were opened. He proposed the construction of an electrical network in town. Ivan Tserov organised the celebration in 1911 of the "50th Anniversary of the First Bulgarian School in Varna" and at his initiative a decision was take to name 9 streets in the town after famous public figures of the Revival Period.
Ivan Tserov also wrote and published a number of analytical articles in the press, booklets about famous public figures, textbooks, the books: "The 50th Anniversary of the First Bulgarian School in Varna", "Recollections and Notes", etc. He was in the board of various cultural institutions: the theatre, the Slavonic, the Archaeological Societies, Chairman of Varna Education Supervisory Board.
He died in Varna on 18 January 1938 in Varna.