Sol Kerzner

Sol Kerzner was a South African hotel and casino magnate and the founder of Kerzner International, the resort group behind Sun City, Atlantis Paradise Island, and the One&Only luxury brand. Born in Johannesburg on 23 August 1935, he trained as a chartered accountant before entering the hotel business, opening the Beverly Hills Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks in 1964 and co-founding Southern Sun Hotels in 1969.

He became globally known in 1979 with the opening of Sun City, a resort and casino complex in the then-independent homeland of Bophuthatswana. The project was controversial because it was built in an apartheid-era homeland and operated casinos at a time when gambling was largely restricted in South Africa, but it made Kerzner one of the most prominent figures in African tourism and gaming.

Kerzner later expanded internationally. Through his company, renamed Kerzner International after earlier operating as Sun International Hotels, he acquired the Paradise Island property in the Bahamas and opened Atlantis Paradise Island in 1998. He went on to develop Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai, which opened in 2008, and created the One&Only Resorts brand.

He remained active in the company until later in life, serving as founder and chairman emeritus after Brookfield acquired the group. Kerzner died in Cape Town on 21 March 2020 at the age of 84.