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Sol Kerzner
Solomon 'Sol' Kerzner, KCMG (23 August 1935 – 21 March 2020) was a South African accountant and business magnate. He founded both of South Africa's largest hotel groups, the Southern Sun Hotel Group and Sun International. He was also the founder, chairman and CEO of Kerzner International. During his career in the resort industry, he was involved in various political and business controversies.
Kerzner was born in Durban to Russian Jewish immigrants. His family owned and operated a chain of kosher hotels. Kerzner played with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra and was an avid boxer, becoming a varsity welterweight champion. He graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg with a BCom (Hons) in accounting, and later qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He then took control of the family company.
In 2001, he purchased the Astra Hotel in Durban. In December 1964, he built South Africa's first five-star hotel, the Beverly Hills Hotel, in Umhlanga, a town north of Durban.
Kerzner next built the 450-room Elangeni Hotel (now part of the combined 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 ten years, he built four hotels, a man-made lake, two Gary Player-designed championship golf courses, and an entertainment centre with an indoor 6,000-seat multipurpose arena at which many superstars performed, including Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Queen, and Shirley Bassey. The arena was also the venue of many World Title fights promoted by Bob Arum. In 1985, the Sun City resort was the topic of the anti-Apartheid rock album Sun City by a group of rock musicians calling themselves Artists United Against Apartheid.
In 1994, following South Africa's first multiracial elections, incoming President Nelson Mandela asked Kerzner to arrange the VIP function at his inauguration, which was attended by about 1,000 people, including many world leaders and heads of state.
In 1996, Kerzner opened the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. In 2000, a second phase of the project opened, including a 1,200-room hotel through a joint venture with the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut called Trading Cove Associates. TCA relinquished its management of the resort in 2002, but Kerzner through his company received a 5% dividend on the gross revenue generated by Mohegan Sun until 2014. The property is one of the largest gambling and entertainment complexes in the United States.
As a result of the success of the Sun City Resort with its Gary Player Country Club golf course, Kerzner became involved in international hotels and leisure and gambling resorts, most notably as the developer of the Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas. In that capacity, in 1994, he made his first major acquisition outside Africa with the purchase of the Paradise Island Resort in The Bahamas. This 1,150-room resort was in bankruptcy at the time. After acquiring the resort, Kerzner redeveloped and expanded it into a 2,300-room resort with one of the world's grandest artificial marine habitats and the Caribbean's biggest casino.
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Sol Kerzner
Solomon 'Sol' Kerzner, KCMG (23 August 1935 – 21 March 2020) was a South African accountant and business magnate. He founded both of South Africa's largest hotel groups, the Southern Sun Hotel Group and Sun International. He was also the founder, chairman and CEO of Kerzner International. During his career in the resort industry, he was involved in various political and business controversies.
Kerzner was born in Durban to Russian Jewish immigrants. His family owned and operated a chain of kosher hotels. Kerzner played with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra and was an avid boxer, becoming a varsity welterweight champion. He graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg with a BCom (Hons) in accounting, and later qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He then took control of the family company.
In 2001, he purchased the Astra Hotel in Durban. In December 1964, he built South Africa's first five-star hotel, the Beverly Hills Hotel, in Umhlanga, a town north of Durban.
Kerzner next built the 450-room Elangeni Hotel (now part of the combined 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 ten years, he built four hotels, a man-made lake, two Gary Player-designed championship golf courses, and an entertainment centre with an indoor 6,000-seat multipurpose arena at which many superstars performed, including Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Queen, and Shirley Bassey. The arena was also the venue of many World Title fights promoted by Bob Arum. In 1985, the Sun City resort was the topic of the anti-Apartheid rock album Sun City by a group of rock musicians calling themselves Artists United Against Apartheid.
In 1994, following South Africa's first multiracial elections, incoming President Nelson Mandela asked Kerzner to arrange the VIP function at his inauguration, which was attended by about 1,000 people, including many world leaders and heads of state.
In 1996, Kerzner opened the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. In 2000, a second phase of the project opened, including a 1,200-room hotel through a joint venture with the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut called Trading Cove Associates. TCA relinquished its management of the resort in 2002, but Kerzner through his company received a 5% dividend on the gross revenue generated by Mohegan Sun until 2014. The property is one of the largest gambling and entertainment complexes in the United States.
As a result of the success of the Sun City Resort with its Gary Player Country Club golf course, Kerzner became involved in international hotels and leisure and gambling resorts, most notably as the developer of the Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas. In that capacity, in 1994, he made his first major acquisition outside Africa with the purchase of the Paradise Island Resort in The Bahamas. This 1,150-room resort was in bankruptcy at the time. After acquiring the resort, Kerzner redeveloped and expanded it into a 2,300-room resort with one of the world's grandest artificial marine habitats and the Caribbean's biggest casino.