2010 Alumni Innovators

Deborah Szekely
Co-Founder of Rancho La Puerta, Tecate, Mexico
Founder of Golden Door, Escomdido, CA

Deborah Szekely is known worldwide as the founding “godmother” of the mind/body/ fitness movement. In 1940, she and her late husband Edmond Szekely founded Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico. In 1958, Deborah alone established the world’s premiere spa, the Golden Door, in Escondido, San Diego County, California. She also served as President and CEO of the Inter-American Foundation, a U.S. congressionally funded development agency based in Washington, DC. She has also funded numerous causes in the realm of education, health and welfare, and the environment, and created several non-profit organizations in the San Diego-Baja California region, as well as nationally.

 

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