Reynaldo "Rey" Fortaleza (born December 26, 1957) is a former

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

who represented the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in the 1976

Montreal Olympics Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

. In 1990, he immigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

where he became a community leader and media entrepreneur.

Early life

Born on December 26, 1957, in the Philippines, Reynaldo was part of a boxing family and became one of three brothers to represent his birth country in Olympic

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

. In all, there were ten children - eight brothers and two sisters. His brothers included fellow Olympians Rene and Ric and boxer Roger. "They were the phenomenal 'boxing brothers' of the country, using boxing as their ticket to a good education and consequently, a better life." He "at age 16 captured the flyweight title in the National Youth Amateur Boxing bouts in Bacolod City," in the Philippines. He then went on to win "six golds, one silver and two bronzes in 11 international boxing competitions."

Olympics

As an 18-year-old bantamweight on the 1976 Filipino Olympic team, he reached the quarterfinals of the

. He was 119 lbs (54 kg), and 5'5" (164 cm).

Family

Reynaldo married Araceli "Cely" Angeles, who also serves as the business manager of the family's enterprises. They have three children. They reside in

Surrey, British Columbia Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surr ...

Canada

Fortaleza moved to Canada in 1990 where he first worked at a silk-screening job for minimum wage and then trained and worked as a hospital janitor and maintenance person. He owned and ran a boxing gym briefly before entering newspaper publishing. He is publisher of the Philippine Asian News Today and Living Today magazine through the Reyfort Media Group. He also holds a franchise in the Philippines-based

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...

TV Patrol World ''TV Patrol'' is a Philippine television newscast produced by ABS-CBN News. It premiered on March 2, 1987, at the former ABS-CBN television network, replacing ''Balita Ngayon''. ''TV Patrol'' is the flagship national newscast of the network an ...

, a news program which is available through a local Vancouver cable channel. Through his newspaper or media group he has fostered and supported five years of the

Metro Vancouver The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...

-area singing contest, the PNT Singing Idol competition.

Recognition

On 18 February 2010 Fortaleza was honoured by Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson for his 1976 Olympic and current Canadian contributions. He was previously honoured by the Multicultural Sports Development Society for his role in "outstanding sports achievements and contributions to Philippine Sports." He has been recognized for his role in bringing Filipino entertainment and sports figures to entertain Vancouver Filipino audiences and was named by an international Filipino association,

Binibining Pilipinas Binibining Pilipinas (abbreviated as Bb. Pilipinas; ) is a national beauty pageant in the Philippines that selects Filipina representatives to compete in one of the Big Four international beauty pageants: Miss International and selects two ot ...

of the World, as one of the "ten most outstanding Filipino Canadians."Margaret Jetelina
"Fighting Spirit"
''Canadian Immigrant'', March 2007, p. 10

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortaleza, Rey 1957 births Filipino emigrants to Canada Filipino expatriates in Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Living people Sportspeople from Vancouver Sportspeople from Surrey, British Columbia Canadian sportspeople of Filipino descent Boxers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for the Philippines Bantamweight boxers Boxing trainers Filipino male boxers Boxers at the 1978 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for the Philippines SEA Games medalists in boxing SEA Games gold medalists for the Philippines Competitors at the 1977 SEA Games