Rosalía Mera Goyenechea (28 January 1944 – 15 August 2013) was a Spanish businesswoman and entrepreneur. At the time of her death, she was the richest woman in Spain and the world's richest self-made woman. In 1975, she co-founded the Zara retail chain with her then-husband

Amancio Ortega Gaona Amancio Ortega Gaona (; born 28 March 1936) is a Spanish billionaire businessman. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group, best known for its chain of Zara (retailer), Zara and Bershka clothing and accessories shops. As ...

. The company grew to become the world's largest fashion retailer.

Early life and education

Rosalia Mera Goyenechea was born in

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

, Galicia, Spain on 28 January 1944. She dropped out of school at age eleven to work as a sales assistant in a clothing shop.

Career

Mera began designing

gown A gown, from the Saxon word, ''gunna'', is a usually loose outer garment from knee-to-full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the Early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the term ''gown ...

s and

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashio ...

in her home with her then-husband,

. The couple opened the first Zara store in 1975 in

. 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. Ten years after the opening of the first Zara store,

Inditex Industria de Diseño Textil, S.A. (Inditex; , ; ) is a Spanish multinational clothing company headquartered in Arteixo, Galicia, in Spain. Inditex, the biggest fast fashion group in the world, operates over 7,200 stores in 93 markets worldwide ...

was established as a holding company for the couple's businesses. Inditex now comprises multiple fashion companies, of which Zara is the flagship. The company also owns the retailers

Bershka Bershka () is a clothing retailer company created in 1998 in Spain. It is part of the Spanish Inditex group (which also owns brands such as Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Oysho, Uterqüe, Stradivarius and Zara Home). The company was created in ...

Massimo Dutti Massimo Dutti () is a Spanish fast fashion clothing retailer specializing in cashmere and wool products, established in 1985 and owned by Spanish multinational company Inditex. Overview Despite the Italian name, "Massimo Dutti" is not a fashion ...

Oysho Oysho is a Spanish clothing retailer specialising in women's homewear and undergarments. The company is part of the Inditex group and was founded in 1977 as Confecciones Noite, S.A. in Arteixo, A Coruña in Galicia. In 2000, the company changed it ...

Pull & Bear Pull&Bear () is a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer based in Narón (A Coruña), Galicia founded in 1991. It is part of Inditex, owner of Zara and Bershka brands. History The chain was established in 1991 due to the diversification o ...

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are co ...

, Uterque and

Zara Home Zara Home is a company that belongs to the Spanish Inditex group dedicated to the manufacturing of home textiles. It was created in 2003. It has around 408 stores in 44 countries. The company focuses on retailing various housewares. The headqua ...

. Inditex now has over 6000+ stores in over 86 countries and over 120,000 employees. Despite her 1986 divorce from Ortega, Mera retained a 7% stake in the company. Mera also owned interests in a company which made

fingerprinting A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfac ...

identification kits for newborns and another company,

Zeltia Zeltia is a former Spanish pharmaceutical company which operated through a variety of subsidiaries in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. As of 2007, Zeltia's research activities in the pharmaceutical area had not resulted in a marketed ...

, which carries out research into cancer fighting compounds of both synthetic and natural origin and particularly those bioactive compounds originating in the ocean. 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, second only to her ex-husband.

Political and philanthropic activities

Mera opposed conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's plans to make Spain's abortion laws more restrictive. She also opposed

austerity Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...

cutbacks to Spain's national healthcare and education programmes. Mera established the Paideia Foundation which works with groups in risk of social exclusion.

Personal life

Mera married

in 1966. The couple had a daughter, Sandra in 1968. and also had a son, Marcos in 1971, who was born with cerebral palsy. The couple divorced in 1986.

Death

On 14 August 2013, Mera was admitted to a hospital in

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...

in an ‘irreversible situation’ after suffering a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

. The family had been on holiday in Menorca. Mera died on 15 August 2013 in

. 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 complications. Inditex confirmed Mera's death on 16 August 2013, 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." She was buried in the cemetery of the church of Santa Eulalia of Liáns, in Oleiros (

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mera, Rosalia 1944 births 2013 deaths Female billionaires People from A Coruña Spanish billionaires Businesspeople from Galicia (Spain) 21st-century Spanish businesswomen 20th-century Spanish businesswomen