Zara Co-founder Dead

Rosalia Mera, Spain's richest woman and co-founder of the international clothing giant Zara, has died at the age of 69.

Spanish media reported that Mera suffered a stroke while on vacation on the Mediterranean island of Menorca. She was transferred on Thursday from the hospital in Menorca to the private San Rafael Hospital in La Coruna, where she died at 8.30pm local time, according to newspaper reports.

Rosalia Mera Goyenechea was born on January 28, 1944, in La Coruna in Spain's Galicia region. The self-made billionaire began her career as a seamstress at age 11, when she dropped out of school to work as a tailor in a clothing shop.

According to Forbes, Mera's net worth was $6.1 billion as of March 2013. Ortega, 77, remains Inditex's majority shareholder. He is listed by Forbes as the fourth-richest man in the world with a net worth of $57 billion.