Rosalía Mera

Rosalia Mera was born in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain in 1944.[4] She dropped out of school at age eleven to work as a sales assistant in a clothing shop.[2][5]

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.[5] 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.[5] Inditex now comprises multiple fashion companies, of which Zara is the flagship.[2] The company also owns the retailers Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Uterque and Zara Home.[6] Inditex now has over 6000+ stores in over 86 countries[4] and over 120,000 employees.[6] Despite her 1986 divorce from Ortega,[2] Mera retained a 7% stake in the company.[7]

Mera also owned interests in a company which made fingerprinting identification kits for newborns[1] and another company, Zeltia, which carries out research into cancer fighting compounds of both synthetic and natural origin and particularly those bioactive compounds originating in the ocean.[1][8]

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,[1] second only to her ex-husband.

Mera opposed conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's plans to make Spain's abortion laws more restrictive.[6] She also opposed austerity cutbacks to Spain's national healthcare and education programmes.[6]

Mera established the Paideia Foundation which works with groups in risk of social exclusion.[1][9]

Mera married Amancio Ortega Gaona in 1966.[5] She had a son, Marcos, who was born mentally disabled.[1] The couple also had a daughter, Sandra.[5] The couple divorced in 1986.

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 complications.[10][11] Inditex confirmed Mera's death on 16 August 2013,[12] 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."[2] She was buried in the cemetery of the church of Santa Eulalia of Liáns, in Oleiros (A Coruña).[13]

Her daughter Sandra Ortega Mera inherited her wealth (her son Marcos was born with cerebral palsy), and became Spain's richest woman with a net wealth of $6.1 billion.[14]