Santiago Rey Fernández-Latorre, president and editor-in-chief of La Voz de Galicia, died at the age of 85 following a multiple organ failure after hospitalization. He was married to Salomé Fernández San-Julián and was the grandson of the newspaper’s founder, Juan Fernández Latorre.
Santiago Rey was born in La Coruña on August 31, 1938 and has owner and president of Corporación Voz de Galicia SAthe first communication group of the autonomous community that also includes Medios Audiovisuales de Galicia —made up of the RadioVoz network and the production company Voz Audiovisual—, the demographic institute Sondaxe, the digital content company Canal Voz, the distributor Disgasa, Galicia Editorial —the printing house with the greatest capacity in the Galician community— and the digital newspaper La Voz de Asturias.
His professional activity has been exclusively linked to the world of communicationalso outside Galicia. He was president of the Association of Spanish Newspaper Editors (AEDE), Antena 3 Galicia, Grupo Cable, Diario de León and Diario16. And advisor to the Colpisa agency, Antena 3 TV and Antena 3 Radio. From 1987 to 1995, he chaired the company TESA (Taller de Editores), publisher of Semanal. He also chaired the International Press Institute (IPI).
He is the author of several hundred articles and a very famous book which brings together some of his most recent and numerous public interventions: Je proteste (2016).
Formation and renewal of La Voz
A law graduate, he joined the management of La Voz de Galicia in 1963. He was then CEO until 1988, when he replaced his brother Emilio as president. Under his leadership, La Voz became the The most widely distributed printed newspaper in Galicia and one of the first in Spain: the third today, both in circulation (OJD) and audience (EGM). At that time, it undertook a total technological renovation, exceeded 100,000 copies of daily circulation, created the regional-multilocal publishing model that covers all of Galicia and inaugurated (1992) the intelligent building that houses the Sabón printing house (Arteixo, in A Coruña).
He has also received honorary doctorates from the Universities of A Coruña (2002) and León (2006) and the Gold Medal of Galicia (2005). In addition to the affection of some cities and provinces: Favorite son of A Coruña and the province of A Coruña; Adopted son of Ferrol, Muxía, Ortigueira and Culleredo. He was awarded the Grand Cross of Civil Merit (1986) and in 2022, coinciding with the 140th anniversary of La Voz de GaliciaFelipe VI decorated it at the headquarters of La Voz of the Grand Cross of Isabel la Católica.
Santiago Rey Foundation
Santiago Rey relaunched the Foundation that bears his name in 2001 to ensure the commercial and editorial continuity of La Voz de Galicia and its companies. The Foundation’s activities aim to development of educational programs related to communication at different levels of education, including professional training: promotes the Voz Natura environmental education program; announces the Fernández Latorre Prize, organizes the Master in Journalistic and Audiovisual Production (MPXA) and manages a museum with a collection of almost 5,000 periodical publications, some of them five hundred years old, and graphic arts machines from the last 150 years.
Santiago Rey is also responsible for strengthening the Galician Library, which has recovered authors such as Manuel Murguía and Eladio Rodríguez. A joint initiative, Biblioteca 120, launched to celebrate the 120th anniversary of La Voz, has distributed seven million books in Galician.
His death means goodbye to a key figure in the last 60 years of Galician and Spanish journalism.
