[1] He grew up in Westchester County north of New York City, the second of three children.
[2][3] After graduating from Phillips Academy, he studied art history at Yale University and in 1966 founded the Bykert Gallery with his college roommate Jeff Byers.
[4] At Bykert he showed a roster of artists which included; Brice Marden, David Novros, Barry Le Va, Alan Saret, Chuck Close, Bill Bollinger, Dorothea Rockburne, and many others.
[6] Then in 1998 he curated the exhibition DeKooning: Drawing/Seeing at the Drawing Center also in New York City.
[7] Kertess suffered from Alzheimer's and died on October 8, 2016, after collapsing at his apartment.