Rosalía Mera

Rosalía Mera
Born(1944-01-28)28 January 1944
A Coruña, Galicia, Spain
Died15 August 2013(2013-08-15) (aged 69)
A Coruña, Galicia, Spain
Known forCo-founder of Zara
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1966; div. 1986)​
[1]
Children2; including Sandra Ortega Mera
WebsiteOfficial website

Rosalía Mera Goyenechea (28 January 1944 – 15 August 2013) was a Spanish businesswoman and fashion designer. At the time of her death, she was the richest woman in Spain[1] and the world's richest self-made woman according to Forbes.[2] She was ranked #66 among the world's most powerful women by Forbes in 2013.[3] In 1975, she co-founded the Zara retail chain with her then-husband Amancio Ortega Gaona. The company grew to become the world's largest fashion retailer.[4]

Early life and education

Rosalia Mera Goyenechea was born in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, on 28 January 1944.[4] She was raised in the working-class Monte Alto neighbourhood of A Coruña,[5] and left school at age eleven to work as a sales assistant and train as a seamstress.[6][1][7]

Career

Mera began designing gowns and lingerie in her home with her then-husband, Amancio Ortega Gaona. The couple opened the first Zara store in 1975 in A Coruña.[7] Eventually the couple parlayed their work into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. Zara's success was in part due to its strategy of imitating popular fashions and quickly making them for sale at inexpensive prices.[4]

Ten years after the opening of the first Zara store, Inditex was established as a holding company for the couple's businesses.[7] Inditex now comprises multiple fashion companies, of which Zara is the flagship.[1] The company also owns the retailers Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Uterqüe and Zara Home.[8] Inditex has over 6,000 stores in over 86 countries as of 2013,[4] and over 120,000 employees.[8] Despite her 1986 divorce from Ortega,[1] Mera retained a 7% stake in the company.[9]

Mera also owned an interest in a company which made fingerprinting identification kits for newborns[10] and another company, Zeltia, which researches cancer-fighting compounds of synthetic and natural origin, and in particular bioactive compounds originating in the ocean.[10][11]

According to the 2013 Forbes billionaire list, Mera was the world's wealthiest self-made female entrepreneur, with a net worth of over $6 billion. She was the second-wealthiest person from Spain,[10] second only to her ex-husband.

Assets

At the time of her death, Mera's fortune was valued at $6.1 billion (€4.6 billion). Her primary asset was a 6.99% stake in Inditex (representing 31.4 million shares valued at €3.2 billion), held through the investment vehicle Rosp Corunna Participaciones Empresariales, S.L.[6] This entity also controlled a 5% stake in the pharmaceutical research company Zeltia, valued at €28.8 million.[12]

Mera channeled her investments through two investment companies (SICAVs): Breixo Inversiones (with assets of approximately €200 million) and Soandres de Activos (with €350 million in assets).[6] She also controlled Ferrado Inmuebles and held stakes in other companies including Room Mate hotels (over 30%), Galician Marine Aquaculture (30.5%), and Neonatal, a company producing biometric fingerprinting kits for newborns.[6][12]

Political and philanthropic activities

Mera opposed conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's plans to make Spain's abortion laws more restrictive.[8] She specifically criticised the proposed reform drafted by Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, expressing confidence that the bill "would not pass" and hoping the existing legislation "would be left as it is" because in her view it "is very good".[13] On economic policy, she opposed austerity cutbacks to Spain's national healthcare and education programmes, stating: "If we haggle over health, childhood, or education, we are doing ourselves a great disservice".[13][8]

Mera established the Paideia Foundation which works with groups in risk of social exclusion.[10][14] The foundation, based in A Coruña, was created to support children with disabilities, inspired by Mera's personal experience as the mother of a son with cerebral palsy.[5]

Personal life

Mera married Amancio Ortega Gaona in 1966.[7] The couple had a daughter Sandra in 1968,[7] and a son Marcos in 1971, who was born with cerebral palsy.[10] The couple divorced in 1986.

Death

On 14 August 2013, Mera was admitted to a hospital in Menorca in an "irreversible situation" after suffering a stroke. The family had been on holiday in Menorca. Mera died on 15 August 2013 in A Coruña. She had been transferred by plane to the port city and then by ambulance to the Hospital San Rafael de A Coruña where she later died of stroke complications.[15][16] Inditex confirmed Mera's death on 16 August 2013,[17] stating "The group wishes to send its sincere condolences to her loved ones and friends at this extremely difficult time, after the loss of a person who contributed so much to the origins and development of the company."[1] She was buried in the cemetery of the church of Santa Eulalia of Liáns, in Oleiros, Galicia.[18]

Her daughter Sandra Ortega Mera inherited her wealth, and became Spain's richest woman with a net wealth of $6.1 billion.[19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Zara co-founder Rosalia Mera dies aged 69". BBC News. 16 August 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  2. ↑ Carlyle, Erin (16 August 2013). "Rosalia Mera, World's Richest Self-Made Woman, Dies At 69". Forbes. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  3. ↑ Casserly, Meghan (22 May 2013). "The World's Most Powerful Female Entrepreneurs 2013". Forbes. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Dennys, Harriet (16 August 2013). "Rosalia Mera". Daily Telegraph. London.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  5. 1 2 Hermida, Xosé (15 August 2013). "Fallece a los 69 años Rosalía Mera, la mujer más rica de España". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Checa, Javier (16 August 2013). "Hoteles, industria textil, biotecnología… así eran las inversiones de Rosalía Mera". El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Baigorri, Manuel (16 August 2013). "Rosalia Mera, Who Was Spain's Richest Woman, Dies at 69". Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Clendenning, Alan (16 August 2013). "Rosalia Mera, World's Wealthiest Self-Made Woman, Dies At 69". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2013 – via Huffington Post.
  9. ↑ Hetz, Robert (15 August 2013). "Update 1-Co-founder of Zara-owner Inditex dies in hospital-report". Reuters. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Kroll, Luisa. "The Rarer Sex: The Self-Made Women Billionaires Of 2013". Forbes. Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  11. ↑ Zeltia website
  12. 1 2 Monllor, Cecilia (19 May 2002). "Rosalía es tan rica como desconocida". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2026.
  13. 1 2 "Las críticas de Rosalía Mera a los recortes y a la nueva Ley del aborto, silenciadas en TVE". El Plural (in Spanish). 31 May 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  14. ↑ EC accreditation for the foundation Archived 20 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ "Rosalía Mera, has been admitted to hospital in Menorca in an 'irreversible situation' after suffering a stroke". Typically Spanish. Howard John Brereton. 15 August 2013. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  16. ↑ "Muere Rosalía Mera, cofundadora de Inditex". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 16 August 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  17. ↑ Conti, Samantha (16 August 2013). "Rosalia Mera, Cofounder of Inditex, Dies". WWD. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  18. ↑ "Rosalía Mera será enterrada este sábado en A Coruña". Europa Press (in Spanish). 16 August 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  19. ↑ "Sandra Ortega Mera". Forbes. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
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