Jovo Latinović was allegedly born on 19 August 1901 in the village of Kolunić near Bosanski Petrovac, present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, to father Ignjatije and mother Simeuna Latinović, as the second of eight children. As a boy, he lost his father, so he became a breadwinner very early. At the age of 14, he went to work in Srem. He finished high school in Sremski Karlovci and Sibenik. In 1923 he was appointed a minister and nurse in the seminary in Sremski Karlovci. In Sombor, in 1930, he got a job as a telegraph operator, and in 1932 he went to Subotica, as a railway employee. In June 1933, in Sremski Karlovci, he married Zagorka Miljkovic, with whom he had daughters Miroslav and Olga. Until before the Second World War, he lived in Sebesic near Subotica, and in 1939 he moved to the vicinity of Belgrade. He retired in 1956 or 1957 after working on the railway in Serbia. After retiring, he returns to his native Kolunić. He was engaged in beekeeping, gardening and fruit growing. He moved to Belgrade in 1995, where he lived with his daughter, grandson and great-grandson. He was known by the nicknames Vovo and "Dovo".

His obituary mentions that he was born in 1901, but a 2007 report mentions that he turned 104 on 19 August 2006. Some sources state that he was born in 1902. However, on the monument he erected during his lifetime, it is written that the year of his birth was 1901, and his closest ones also testify to that.

He became the oldest known living person in Serbia, following the death of 109-year-old Kostadinka Momirović on 8 July 2009.

Latinović died in Belgrade, Serbia, on 16 April 2011, at the claimed age of 109 years, 240 days, making him the oldest known man to die in Serbia, although not the oldest known ethnic Serb ever (Jovan Jovanović was older). Following his death, then-107-year-old Jelisaveta Veljković became the oldest known living person in Serbia.