Philip A. DuMont was born in Rochester, Minnesota, on 9 July 1903 and spent much of his childhood in Des Moines, Iowa. DuMont received his B.S. in biology (1926) from Drake University; his bachelor's thesis was titled "The One Hundred Most Common Birds of Polk County."



In 1932, DuMont started graduate work with Joseph Grinnell at the University of California, Berkeley, but did not complete the degree. Later in 1932 he began graduate work at the University of Iowa. His research there eventually was published as a monograph, A Revised List of the Birds of Iowa (University of Iowa Studies in Natural History, 1933). From 1927 to 1931 DuMont was employed by the Bird Department of the American Museum of Natural History. During that time he spent sixteen months studying birds and mammals in Madagascar.



In 1933, he was hired by cartoonist and conservationist Jay N. ("Ding") Darling to assess potential wildlife areas in Iowa. In 1935, he began work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, first as a biologist at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon and then as manager of Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge in South Dakota. From 1936 to 1937 in South Dakota, he banded 16,453 birds of ninety-three species, the second highest total in North America. He worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service until 1972, spending many years in Washington, D.C. He was chief of the Branch of Interpretation and wrote hundreds of leaflets, bird and mammal lists, and brochures for the refuge system. He remained in Washington until 1986 when he moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina.



He joined the American Ornithologists Union in 1927 and became an Elective Member in 1941. DuMont published about two hundred articles, mainly on birds. Most were short notes discussing distributional or systematic questions. He also was an authority on daylilies and for many years chaired a daylily show in Washington, D.C.



Philip DuMont and his wife Jean had three daughters and a son. DuMont died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on 12 February 1996.