Zell was born in Chicago to a Jewish family, the son of Ruchla and Berek Zielonka. His parents were Jewish emigrants from Poland, where his Father had been a successful grain trader. They immigrated to the United States with their young daughter, Leah, via Tokyo just before the German invasion of Poland of 1939. Soon after arriving, his parents changed their first and last names, becoming Rochelle and Bernard Zell. They then moved from Seattle to the Albany Park neighborhood in Chicago where his Father became a jewelry wholesaler. When he was twelve, the family moved to Highland Park, Illinois where he graduated from Highland Park High School. In 1963, Sam graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, where he was also a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. While in school, Zell managed a 15 unit apartment building in return for free room-and-board and was soon managing the owner's other properties. Joined by his fraternity brother Robert H. Lurie, he won a contract with a large apartment development owner in Ann Arbor who was impressed with Zell's knowledge of what students wanted. By the time he graduated with a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1966, he and Lurie were managing over 4,000 apartments and owned 100-200 units outright. After school, he sold his interest in the management company to Lurie and moved to Chicago.