Gladys Rosa Zender de Meier ( née Zender Urbina; born October 19, 1939) is a Peruvian model and beauty queen who became the first Latin American to win the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

title. She was crowned Miss Peru Universe 1957 by Miss Peru Universe 1956, Lola Sabogal Morzán.

Miss Universe

Born to a Swiss father and a Peruvian mother, she won the title of

Miss Universe 1957 Miss Universe 1957, the 6th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 19 July 1957 in Long Beach, California, United States. In this pageant, 32 contestants competed. Gladys Zender of Peru won the competition, becoming the first Latin American woman to ...

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. After being crowned, it was revealed that she was only 17 years old, a few months under the contest's minimum age requirement. Pageant officials decided that she could keep the crown after they were told she was considered to be 18 in Peru.

Return to Peru

Zender became an instant celebrity. *She flew on the inaugural flight from

Idlewild International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the New ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, New York, to Limatambo Airport in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

, Peru, where she was greeted by thousands of fans. *''

Caretas ''Caretas'' (Masks) is a weekly newsmagazine published in Lima, Peru, renowned for its investigative journalism. History ''Caretas'' was founded in October 1950 by Doris Gibson and Francisco Igartua. In the mid-1950s, Gibson's son, Enrique Z ...

'', one of Peru's most-popular

newsmagazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or n ...

s, soon featured Zender on their cover. She was also later featured on that publication's first all-color cover. * In March 1958, she agreed to accompany the then sailor Juan Carlos de Borbon, who was on a 4-day stay in Lima during his time as a trainee aboard Spain's insignia ship, the Sebastian Elcano, to a couple of social events. He became King of Spain in 1975 and abdicated the crown to his son

Felipe VI Felipe VI (;, * eu, Felipe VI.a, * ca, Felip VI, * gl, Filipe VI, . Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia; born 30 January 1968) is King of Spain. He is the son of former King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía, and ...

, in 2014. * The Peruvian composer

Alicia Maguiña Alicia Rosa Maguiña Málaga (28 November 1938 – 14 September 2020 Los Troveros Criollos Los Troveros Criollos (English: The Creole Searchers) is a Peruvian musical group that is recognized for its contribution to ''música criolla''. Between 1952 and 1961, they recorded a wide range of songs, which became standards within the genre. ...

Personal life

Zender married Antonio Meier in 1965, and secluded herself into a family life; they had four children together. Their son,

Christian Meier Christian Dietrich Meier Zender (born June 23, 1970), best known as Christian Meier, is a Peruvian actor and singer in Latin America, the US Hispanic market, and around the Spanish speaking world. Biography Meier was born in Lima, Peru, the yo ...

, is a well-known actor and singer in Peru and has achieved some fame in other Latin American countries. In 2003, Zender allowed ''Caretas'' to photograph her (and Meier's) home showcasing various artifacts, including a collection of

Inca The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

n art, the couple have acquired through their years together.

References

External links

Waltz for Gladys Zender
Peruvian waltz dedicated to Gladys Zender
Polka for Gladys Zender
Peruvian polka dedicated to Gladys Zender. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zender, Gladys 1939 births Living people Miss Universe 1957 contestants Miss Universe winners Peruvian beauty pageant winners Peruvian female models Spouses of politicians Peruvian people of Swiss descent