Born at Waipukurau, New Zealand, Ormond was the son of John Davies Ormond Jr and Emilie Mary Gladys Wilder. He was educated at Christ's College, New Zealand. His sports were tennis and rugby. He married Judith Wall on 26 August 1939. They had four sons and one daughter.

Through his mother, he was the fourth great-grandson of Beaufoy Boyle, great-granddaughter of Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery and Lady Margaret Howard. This connection made him a descendent of many notable figures including his thirteenth great-grandparents Elizabeth Tilney and Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. He was the grandson of John Davies Ormond and brother-in-law of the politician Sir Hugh John Dyke Acland. His great uncle was Edward John Eyre, former governor of Jamaica. His cousin is the headmistress, Ormond Felicity Lusk.
He started out with a large sheep and cattle run. Later he was elected to the Waipukurau Branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union (1927–1930). In the 1935 election, he contested the Waipawa electorate as an Independent Reformer and was thus vote-splitting on the right, taking support from the official United/Reform Coalition candidate, Albert Jull. The Democrats also had a candidate, which further contributed to vote splitting on the right, and the electorate went to the Labour candidate, Hubert Christie. In the 1938 election, he contested the Napier electorate for the National Party, but was beaten by the incumbent, Labour's Bill Barnard.

In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal

During World War II, he served in Greece, and received the British Empire Medal for diving off a troopship attempting to rescue a drowning man. Wounded in action he was invalided back to New Zealand, where he served as instructor and rose to the rank of army captain

After the war, he saw the need for New Zealand to ship products aboard. He led a trade delegation to Japan in the 1960s to promote trade with Japan. He later hosted a delegation at the Wallingford Station Run. He won many friends and business contacts. He was the longtime chairman of the New Zealand Meat Producers Board. Later in life he organised the Shipping Corporation of New Zealand. He was its chairman until September 1979. He also ran one of the largest sheep runs in New Zealand.

In his later life he retired to his cattle and sheep run. On 2 July 1964 he was knighted for his services to New Zealand and the Commonwealth. The Sir John Ormond Fellowship is named in his honour.