José Ortega Spottorno

José Ortega Spottorno (; November 13, 1916 – February 18, 2002) was a Spanish journalist and publisher. Born in Madrid to famous philosopher José Ortega y Gasset and Rosa Spottorno Topete, José Ortega Spottorno was the founder of affordable paperback publishing firm Alianza Editorial and the Spanish daily newspaper , which quickly became the bestselling Spanish newspaper, a crown it holds to this day. He was survived by his wife, Simone Ortega, and three children, one of whom works as a journalist for .

Early life Ortega Spottorno was born and educated in Madrid, studying at the Baccalaureate School of the Institute of Madrid. This education has been described as setting the course for the rest of his life, emphasising as it liberalism and secularism. Described as "the banner of Spain's democratic transition", immediately took on a very strong pro-amnesty stance, demanding the freeing from jail of all those imprisoned by Franco for political crimes.

Later life and death Ortega Spottorno was briefly a member of the constitutional assembly which crafted Spain's new democratic constitution, between 1977 and 1979.

Ortega Spottorno stepped down from the board of in 1984, accepting an honorary chairmanship to acknowledge his role in founding the paper. On leaving the post, he explained that while it was prudent for those in power to "surrender their weapons before they reach old age", he also had selfish reasons for the move: to write. Between leaving and his death, Ortega Spottorno published three novels and was close to finishing his magnum opus, a history of the Ortega family, when he died of cancer in 2002.