Perenchio was the grandson of Italian immigrants Giovanni Batiste (later John) Perenchio and Madeline D'Adda, who came to the United States in 1896 from the northern Italian village of Pavone. His grandfather established the Fresno Grape Exchange, built a packinghouse that shipped fresh fruits and vegetables to the Great Lakes region, and later founded the Crestview Winery. Perenchio was raised in Fresno until the age of fifteen, when he was sent to Black Foxe Military Institute in Los Angeles for three-and-a-half years, graduating in 1949.