Raymond Orteig was the New York City hotel owner who offered the Orteig Prize

Orteig Prize

The Orteig Prize was a $25,000 reward offered on May 19, 1919, by New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first allied aviator to fly non-stop from New York City to Paris or vice-versa. On offer for five years, it attracted no competitors...

 for the first non-stop transatlantic flight

Transatlantic flight

Transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. A transatlantic flight may proceed east-to-west, originating in Europe or Africa and terminating in North America or South America, or it may go in the reverse direction, west-to-east...

 between New York and Paris.

Orteig was born in the south of France, in Louvie-Juzon

Louvie-Juzon

Louvie-Juzon is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.-References:*...

, Béarn

Béarn

Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...

, but emigrated at age 12, arriving in New York on October 13, 1882 to join an uncle living in New York. He started working as a bus boy and cafe manager but soon managed to acquire two hotels (the Hotel Lafayette and the Brevoort Hotel in Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...

).

Orteig offered the prize in 1919 after attending a dinner honouring the American ace

Flying ace

A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...

 Eddie Rickenbacher. Many of the speeches involved Franco-American friendship and Rickenbacher had looked forward to the day that the two countries were linked by air. He was also strongly inspired by contact with French pilots, members of a French mission sent during World War I, in 1917-18, to New York to help the USA build the US Air Force.

The prize was won in 1927 by Charles Lindbergh

Charles Lindbergh

Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...

.

Biography (in French) : Du Béarn a New York, Raymond Orteig (1870–1939), mecene de l'aviation by Alain J-B. Lalanne, ed.Marrimpouey, Pau, France.