Mi Tierra restaurant co-founder has passed away at the age of 98

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) –The co-founder of Mi Tierra Restaurant and matriarch of the Cortez family has passed away at the age of 98.

“It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of our co-founder, Doña Cruz Cortez,” the family said in a statement posted on social media Thursday.

Cruz and her husband, Pedro, founded Mi Tierra in 1941. With $150 dollars, they opened the three-table restaurant in El Mercado. Now there are five La Familia Cortez Restaurants –Mi Tierra Cafe and Panaderia, La Margarita Restaurant and Oyster Bar, Mariachi Bar, Pico De Gallo and Viva Villa.

“Born and raised in San Antonio, Sra. Cruz embodied the authentic comida (food) and cultura that La Familia Cortez Restaurants represents and we strive every day to honor her legacy,” the family said in a statement. “As she joins her husband Don Pedro and son Manuel in heaven, she is survived by the second, third, fourth and fifth generations of Cortez family members, along with the more than 600 La Familia Cortez Restaurants team members and hundreds of members of the San Antonio community that she has touched.”

A public viewing is scheduled from 1 pm to 8 pm Saturday, June 1, at Porter Loring Mortuary on McCullough Avenue.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations in her memory be made to St. Jude’s or Christ Mission College.