R.I.P. "Pepe" Ortega Founder of Sazon Goya

Sazon Goya is to everyday cooking in Miami as water is to the ocean. Give thanks and Rest In Peace to Jose Antonio Ortega Bonet for teaming up with the Unanues family, founders of the Goya food company, for bringing the world a line of products that find daily use...

By Jacob Katel

September 20, 2009

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Sazon Goya is to everyday cooking in Miami as water is to the ocean. Give thanks and Rest In Peace to Jose Antonio Ortega Bonet for teaming up with the Unanues family, founders of the Goya food company, for bringing the world a line of products that find daily use in mostly Hispanic home-kitchens all over the U.S. and Puerto Rico, the SazÃ³n Goya line of seasoning products.

"Pepe," or "El Gallego" as he was known to friends, lived and died in Coral Gables at the age of 79 of lung cancer. He was born in Havana, Cuba on October 27, 1929. He got married and had two kids there. The family later lived in Colombia and Puerto Rico where Pepe founded Sazon Goya in the 1960's before moving to Miami in 1976.

Pepe will be remembered as a philanthropist thanks to his donations to the the League Against Cancer, Jose Marti scholarships, Centro Mater Foundation, and Mercy Hospital.

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