Sol Kerzner
| Sol Kerzner | |
|---|---|
| Born |
23 August 1935 Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Nationality | South African |
| Alma mater | B.Com (Accounting), B.Com (Hons) (Accounting) |
| Occupation | Founder, Chairman and CEO of Kerzner International |
| Spouse(s) | Maureen Adler Shirley Bestbier (deceased) Anneline Kriel (1980–1985) Heather Murphy (2000–2011) |
| Children |
with Adler: --Howard "Butch" Kerzner --Andrea Kerzner --Beverly Kerzner Mace with Bestbier: --Brandon Kerzner --Chantal Kerzner Sweeney |
| Website | www.kerzner.com |
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Solomon (Sol) Kerzner (born 23 August 1935) is a South African accountant and business magnate. His family started a hotel chain; after Kerzner graduated with a B.Com (Accounting), B.Com (Hons) (Accounting) from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and qualified as a Chartered Accountant, he took over the running of the group and went on to create the most successful hotel group in South Africa, Sun International. He is now the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Kerzner International and his career spans more than 45 years in the resort industry. He founded both of South Africa's largest hotel groups, Southern Sun Hotel Group.
Kerzner was born in Troyville, Johannesburg, South Africa, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. His parents owned and operated a chain of kosher hotels. Kerzner graduated with a degree in accounting and then took control of the family company. In 1962, he purchased the Astra Hotel in Durban. Following the success of that property, Kerzner built South Africa's first five star graded hotel in Umhlanga, a village north of Durban – he opened this resort in December 1964 which he named the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Following the Beverly Hills, Kerzner built the 450-room Elangeni Hotel (now renamed Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani), overlooking Durban's beachfront and, in 1969, in partnership with South African Breweries, he established the chain of Southern Sun Hotels, which by 1983 operated 30 luxury hotels with more than 7,000 rooms. In 1975, Kerzner opened his first hotel outside South Africa on the Indian Ocean Island of Mauritius which he named Le Saint Géran.
In 1979 Kerzner developed Sun City, the most ambitious resort project in Africa. Over a period of ten years he built four hotels, a man-made lake, two Gary Player designed championship golf courses and entertainment center with an indoor 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena in which he presented many superstars including Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Shirley Bassey and which was also the venue of many World Title fights promoted by Bob Arum's Top Rank organisation. During 1985, Kerzner's Sun City, South Africa resort was the topic of anti-Apartheid rock album titled Sun City by a group of rock musicians calling themselves Artists United Against Apartheid.
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