Gerges was born during a Lebanese civil war in 1958 and was part of the 1975 war generation. According to him, "My generation was wiped out—killed, mutilated and polluted by sectarian-tribal conflict between 1975 and 1990, or forced into exile." Although he immigrated to the United States to escape the conflict, Gerges' younger brother, Bassam, was killed during the war in 1990. Gerges has lived most of his life in the United States.