New York:
Susannah Mushatt Jones, the world’s oldest person, who lived through two world wars and 20 US presidencies, has died at the age of 116 years. Jones died yesterday at a senior home in Brooklyn, Robert Young, a senior consultant for the Los Angles-based Gerontology Research Group, said.
Born on an Alabama farm in July 1899, Jones was also the last living American born in the 19th Century.
Jones became Guinness World Records’ official oldest person when 117-year-old Misao Okawa of Japan died last year.
Following the death of Jones, the oldest person in the world is now believed to be 116-year old Emma Morano, who lives in Verbena in Italy. She was born in November 1899.
Jones was one of 11 children. Her grandparents were slaves, her parents crop pickers.
She attended a special school for young black girls and graduated from high school in 1922.
She moved to New York to work as a nanny, where she helped to start a scholarship fund for young African-American women.
Jones remained active until the end of her life, serving as a member of the tenant patrol of her nursing home until she was 106, US media reports said.
As one of the last few remaining human links with the 19th Century, Jones has lived through more history than anyone else in the world.
Jones always maintained that lots of sleep and no smoking or drinking were the main reasons she lived to celebrate her 116th birthday last year.
Jones, known to loved ones as ‘Miss Susie,’ had last year said that she ate four strips of bacon with scrambled egg every day.
