Vilis Vitols was born in Latvia. In 1944 his family fled as the Russians occupied Latvia and he emigrated to Venezuela in 1948. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the Universidad Central de Venezuela. Later, Vitols won a Ford Foundation scholarship to study at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Cleveland, where he received his Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering. Vilis lives with his family in Riga where he is an renowned philanthropist and a respected public figure.