Kerzner's parents were Russian Jewish immigrants to South Africa who settled in the seaside resort of Durban, where they had four children and made a living running a small kosher hotel on the beach front. It is said that Kerzner was bullied as a child, and enrolled in boxing classes to learn to defend himself. He toughened up further while doing national service and when he graduated from the South African army, he did an accountancy degree at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.