Yi Jong-ho was the grandson of Yi Yong-ik, founder of Boseong College (forerunner of Korea University); his father, Yi Hyeon-jae, was Yi Yong-ik's adopted son. Yi Jong-ho headed Boseong College as its second director from 1907 to 1910 and funded the Hague secret envoys. He joined the Hanbuk Heunghakhoe and Sinminhoe societies, went into exile in Vladivostok where he took part in the Kwoneophoe association, and founded several Korean schools there. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1962, with the medal delivered to his descendants in 2004; he is buried at the Seoul National Cemetery.