Solomon 'Sol' Kerzner, (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. Early life and education Kerzner was born in Durban to Russian Jewish immigrants. His family owned and operated a chain of kosher hotels. Kerzner 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. Career 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 town 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. Sun City 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 an entertainment center with an indoor 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena at which he presented many superstars 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, 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. In 1994, following the first multiracial elections in South Africa, Kerzner was asked by incoming President Nelson Mandela to arrange the VIP function at the Presidential Inauguration, which was attended by approximately a thousand people, including many of the world's leaders and heads of state. Mohegan Sun In 1996, Kerzner opened the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. In 2000, a second