Valentin Gerasimov was born on 28 May 1940 into a working-class family in the working village of Shumikha, Shumikhinsky District, Chelyabinsk Oblast, now the administrative centre of the Shumikhinsky Municipal District, Kurgan Oblast.
In 1965, he graduated from the Kurgan Machine-Building Institute [ru] with a degree in automotive and tractor mechanical engineering.
In June 1988, he became chairman of the Kurgan Regional Executive Committee of the Council of People's Deputies.
In April 1990, he was elected a People's Deputy of the RSFSR, was a member of the Communists of Russia faction.
On 24 October 1991, Gerasimov became the first Governor of Kurgan Oblast, as was one of the last ones to be appointed head of the administration of the federal subjects of Russia.