The co-founder of global fashion brand Zara and the richest woman in Spain, Rosalia Mera, has died at the age of 69 after suffering a stroke while on holiday in the Balearic island of Menorca.

Mera was transferred to the private San Rafael hospital in Coruna, northern Spain, where she died on Thursday evening, a hospital source said. She had been on holiday with her daughter Sandra.

Listed by Forbes this year as the world’s 195th-richest billionaire with a fortune of US$6.1 billion, the highest-placed among Spanish women, she was also described as the richest self-made woman in the world.

Mera dropped out of school at 11 and started work as a seamstress at 13 before founding the Inditex textile giant with her husband Amancio Ortega, whom she later divorced. Ortega is listed by Forbes as the world’s third-richest man with US$57 billion.

Inditex expressed its sadness over Mera’s death.

“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,” it said.

Mera had left the Inditex board in 2004 but kept a 5.05 percent stake, according to Spanish daily ABC.

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