 He lectured at universities across Europe, as well as those in Canada, Cuba, Iraq, Israel, and the United States, and was quoted saying "I lectured at almost each of [the] nineteen universities of [the former] Yugoslavia..." His nephew was the noted mathematician Svetozar Kurepa.Born in Majske Poljane, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary, Kurepa was the youngest of Rade and Anđelija Kurepa's fourteen children.He began his schooling in Majske Poljane, continued his education in Glina, and graduated from high school in Križevci.