GRG News for 2016


The oldest people who have ever lived - in data

December 8, 2016; The Gerontology Research Group supercentenarian database has been used by The Guardian newspaper as the basis for an article about the oldest verified people ever.

Robert Young, Director of the Gerontology Research Group's super-centenarian division, provided the Guardian with a list of 2,115 people who have, to date, been verified (or are pending verification) as having lived to 110 or older.

However, there are thought to be many more super-centenarians alive today. Young estimates that the "real number" of living individuals aged 110 or higher is likely to be around 1,000 worldwide, roughly a fifth of whom have documented proof of their longevity.

To read the article, click here.


World's oldest person Emma Morano turns 117

November 30, 2016; Mrs. Emma Morano, the world's oldest person, has celebrated her 117th birthday in Verbania, Italy.

Mrs. Emma Morano was born in Civiasco, Italy, to parents Giovanni Morano and Matilde Bresciani as the oldest of eight children on 29 November 1899. Growing up, Mrs. Morano struggled with health issues such as anaemia. On doctor's advice, she would start eating one raw egg a day - a diet she has maintained ever since. In 1926, Mrs. Morano was married to Giovanni Martinuzzi, a marriage she would rather not talk about. The marriage produced one son, born in 1937, but unfortunately he died after a couple of months. Having separated - but not divorced - from her husband in 1938, Mrs. Morano has lived alone ever since, and accredits this as one of the key secrets to her longevity. The third secret of her longevity, Mrs. Morano has revealed, is her daily glass of homemade brandy. During her life, Mrs. Morano worked several jobs, until she retired at the age of 75.

Living independently in Verbania, a town in Northern Italy situated on the shore of Lago Maggiore, Mrs. Morano is helped by her niece and regularly visited by her physician, who both report her to be doing incredibly well for her age; she can still walk around, enjoy the occasional nocturnal biscuit, and laments about her passion for singing and music. She has gained increasing media coverage over the last couple of years, when her age became increasingly remarkable in her country; last year, she became the oldest Italian ever, passing the previous record set by Mrs. Dina Manfredini. Moreover, she also became the second-oldest European person ever, trailing only Mrs. Jeanne Calment, who died at the age of 122 years old.

To read an article about her 117th birthday, click here.


Winonah Greene, 110, oldest member of sorority

November 14, 2016; Robert Young, Director of the Supercentenarian Research and Database Division at the Gerontology Research Group, was recently featured in an article about Mrs. Winonah Greene, who died on Tuesday, October 18, 2016, at an assisted living facility in Brooksville, Florida.

Winonah Peters Greene, formerly of Philadelphia, enjoyed talking about her life, but there was one question she gently avoided: What was the secret to her longevity?

Over the years, as she celebrated milestone birthdays, the "supercentenarian" was often asked the inevitable question about how she had managed to live for so many years.

"So many people have asked me that," she told a Florida television station this year on her 110th birthday. "I have no secret. I had nothing to do with it."

To read this article in full, click here.


Human age limit claim sparks debate

October 31, 2016; An analysis of global demographic data published in Nature suggests that humans have a fixed shelf life, and that the odds of someone beating Calment's record are low - although some scientists question this interpretation. They say that the data used in the analysis are not unequivocal, and that the paper doesn't account for future advances in medicine.

Human life expectancy has steadily increased since the nineteenth century. Reports of supercentenarians - people such as Calment who live to older than 110 - together with observations of model animals whose lifespans can be extended through genetic or dietary modifications, have prompted some to suggest that there is no upper limit on human lifespan. Others say that the steady increase in life expectancy and maximum human lifespan seen during the last century will eventually stop.

To investigate, Jan Vijg, a geneticist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and his colleagues turned to the Human Mortality Database, which spans 38 countries and is jointly run by US and German demographers. They reasoned that if there's no upper limit on lifespan, then the biggest increase in survival should be experienced by ever-older age groups as the years pass and medicine improves. Instead, they found that the age with the greatest improvement in survival got steadily higher since the early twentieth century, but then started to plateau at about 99 in 1980. (The age has since increased by a very small amount).

To read this article in full, click here.


Alabama man, and World War II veteran, recognized for service on 106th birthday

October 20, 2016; Robert Young, Director of the Supercentenarian Research and Database Division at the Gerontology Research Group, was recently featured in an article about 106-year-old World War II veteran, John Jacobson.

"At 106, the key is the veteran status," Young said. "As an estimate, you have 1,000 in America who are 106-plus, but 90 percent of them are female. That leaves about 100 males and how many are veterans? Ten to 20 percent? You could count him as one of the 10 oldest veterans America."

To read the article in full, click here.


Jadwiga Szubartowicz: Oldest living person in Poland

October 19, 2016; Mr. Waclaw Jan Kroczek, GRG Correspondent for Poland and Administrative Assistant for Case Validation Summaries, was recently featured in an article about 111-year-old Jadwiga Szubartowicz, who is believed to be the oldest living person in Poland.

To read the article in full, click here.


Adele Dunlap, 113, is named the "Oldest Living American Resident"

July 22, 2016; Adele Dunlap, 113, has been named the "Oldest Living American Resident" by the Gerontology Research Group. She became the oldest person in the United States following the death of Goldie Michelson on July 8.

Mrs. Dunlap, was born on December 12, 1902, in Newark, New Jersey. She graduated from South Side High School in 1921 and from the New Jersey State Normal School, the predecessor of Kean University, in 1923.

Born as Adele Henderson, she taught in the Kearny school system for several years before marrying Earl Dunlap Sr. and settling down to run the home and raise three children.

According to her son, she has lived in Newark, South Orange, Short Hills, Springfield, Spring Lake Heights, Clinton and Pittstown.

Mrs. Dunlap is also the world's 10th-oldest verified person. The oldest is 116-year-old Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, of Italy, who was born on November 29, 1899.

To read more, click here. A more local article can be found here.


Gladys Hooper - UK's oldest person - dies aged 113

July 19, 2016; Gladys Hooper - the oldest living person in the United Kingdom - sadly passed away on July 9, 2016 at the age of 113 years, 173 days.

Mrs. Hooper was born in London, England, on January 18, 1903. She was a concert pianist, and was a friend of aviator Amy Johnson. In 1922, she married Leslie Hermiston Hooper, with whom she had one child, Derek. Following her husband's death, she moved to the Isle of Wight, England.

Mrs. Hooper was recognised as the oldest living person in the United Kingdom following the death of 114 year-old Ethel Lang of Barnsley, England, on January 15, 2015. In October 2015, at the age of 112, she had a hip replacement, and is believed to be the oldest person ever to have undergone such an operation.

At the time of her death, she was the 12th-oldest validated living person in the world. The oldest person in the UK is now believed to be 112 year-old Bessie Camm (born June 20, 1904).

To read more, click here.


Alida Grubba Rudge Celebrates 113th Birthday

July 19, 2016; Mrs. Alida Victoria Grubba Rudge from Jaragua do Sul, Brazil, celebrated her 113th birthday on July 10, 2016. She was born in 1903.

Mrs. Grubba Rudge, who was officially recognised by the GRG as the oldest verified living person on the continent of South America when Mrs. Eudoxie Baboul of French Guiana died on 1 July 2016, still enjoys a large party for her birthday every year.

Mrs. Grubba Rudge is reportedly still in good health; she has remained lucid and exercises her mind on a daily basis. She enjoys the occasional glass of Schnapps or glass of beer, and is still regularly taken on a tour to other surrounding cities by car. She regrets no longer being able to walk.

One article emphasises the transition Mrs. Grubba Rudge has witnessed in her country throughout her lifespan. When she was born, Brazil was run by its fifth president; now, 113 years later, Brazil has welcomed its 37th president. In the same time span, the country has grown from seventeen million people to over two hundred million inhabitants.

Mrs. Grubba Rudge's 113th birthday was covered by local media, mentioning the GRG and thus expanding our coverage to Brazil. If you know of any Brazilian older than Mrs. Grubba Rudge, please feel free to contact us using the e-mail addresses in the administration and/or correspondents section of our website. To read more about Mrs. Grubba Rudge's birthday, please click on (one of) the following links:

http://dc.clicrbs.com.br/sc/noticias/noticia/2016/07/alida-grubba-completa-113-anos-neste-domingo-em-jaragua-do-sul-6473504.html
http://ndonline.com.br/joinville/noticias/317392-jaraguaense-alida-grubba-rudge-apaga-as-velinhas-do-seu-bolo-de-113-anos.html


Goldie Michelson, 113, oldest verified person in the United States, passes away

July 19, 2016; The Gerontology Research Group announces the passing of Mrs. Goldie Michelson (1902-2016) who has been the oldest validated living person in the USA following the death of Susannah Mushatt Jones (1899-2016) on May 12, 2016, who was recognised by the Guinness World Records as the World's Oldest Person and the last American survivor of the 1800s.

Goldie Michelson was born to Jewish parents in Elizabethgrad, Russia (now Ukraine), on Aug. 8, 1902. The city of her birth was recently renamed Kropyvnytskyi and is located within borders of the present-day Ukraine. At the age of two, she migrated to Massachusetts, USA, luckily evading the Jewish pogrom of 1918-1920 and the Holocaust during the World War II. Goldie Michelson graduated from sociology at the Pembroke University, having been one of the few women to receive a college education in the 1920s. In her later life, she became notable as a great activist, by endowing the David and Goldie Michelson Drama Fund at Clark and by teaching theatre to students at Temple Emanuel in Worcester among other activities. She attributed her longevity to daily walking routine.

Goldie Michelson passed away on July 8, 2016, one month shy of her 114th birthday. At the time of her death, she was the oldest Jewish person in the world.

Click on the following links to learn more about Mrs. Michelson's exceptional life:

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/202662/one-super-supercentarian
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?pid=180608625
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/massachusetts-woman-goldie-michelson-believed-be-oldest-american-dies-age-n606521


Eudoxie Baboul, 114 - Oldest Person Ever From French Guiana - Passes Away

Eudoxie Baboul, the oldest person ever from French Guiana (a French overseas department) and the oldest living French person, has passed away. At the time of her death, she was the fifth-oldest validated living person in the world and the third-oldest French person ever.

Ms. Baboul claimed to be born September 30, 1901, but when the GRG checked the original document, she was born on Oct 1 1901, according to both the original birth record and a recent ID card. As an adult, she grew and sold vegetables for a living. Despite never marrying, she had several children, all of whom predeceased her.

In 2011, Baboul moved to Matoury, where she lived with her grandson Joubert. She was bedridden for the last few years of her life and died on July 1, 2016 at the age of 114 years, 274 days.

A French language obituary of Mrs. Baboul can be found here, and another recent article can be found here.


Ana Maria Vela Rubio, 114, Breaks Spanish Longevity Record

On June 6, 2016, Ana Maria Vela Rubio broke the Spanish longevity record previously held by Maria Antonia Castro of Andalusia who reached the age of 114 years, 220 days in 1996. The Spanish newspaper El Pais recently featured an article about Mrs. Vela Rubio and her record.

To read this article, click here.


Clarence "Larry" Matthews, 110 - Possibly the Oldest Man in America

May 19, 2016; Clarence "Larry" Matthews, of Indian Wells, California, turned 110 years old on May 1. The next day, a birthday party was held in his honor at Indian Wells Country Club where Matthews has lived since 1972. At the time, Matthews was considered the second-oldest man in the U.S. Ironically, two days after Matthews' birthday, the oldest known living World War II vet, Frank Levingston - who turned 110 on Nov. 13 - passed away. According to Robert Young, Director of the GRG "that leaves Clarence Matthews, born May 1, 1906, as the oldest known man in America whose age likely can be validated."

To read this an article about Clarence Matthews, click here.


Genoa Resident Turns 108

May 18, 2016; Alessandro Delucchi, GRG Correspondent for Italy, was recently interviewed about Margherita Giuliano, a 108 year old resident of Genoa. "Genetics, diet and lifestyle are the factors that most affect the aging processes and, when combined, can become the elixir of eternal youth" said Mr. Delucchi.

To read this Italian article in full, click here.


Emma Morano, 116, becomes World's Oldest Person

May 13, 2016; After the death of Mrs. Susannah Mushatt Jones, who passed away on 12 May 2016, the Gerontology Research Group regards Mrs. Emma Morano as the new World's Oldest Person. Mrs. Morano, aged 116, now receives the symbolic status of "last surviving link to the 1800s".

Mrs. Emma Morano was born in Civiasco, Italy, to parents Giovanni Morano and Matilde Bresciani as the oldest of eight children on 29 November 1899. Growing up, Mrs. Morano struggled with health issues such as anaemia. On doctor's advice, she would start eating one raw egg a day - a diet she has maintained ever since. In 1926, Mrs. Morano was married to Giovanni Martinuzzi, a marriage she would rather not talk about. The marriage produced one son, born in 1937, but unfortunately he died after a couple of months. Having separated - but not divorced - from her husband in 1938, Mrs. Morano has lived alone ever since, and accredits this as one of the key secrets to her longevity. The third secret of her longevity, Mrs. Morano has revealed, is her daily glass of homemade brandy. During her life, Mrs. Morano worked several jobs, until she retired at the age of 75.

Living independently in Verbania, a town in Northern Italy situated on the shore of Lago Maggiore, Mrs. Morano is helped by her niece and regularly visited by her physician, who both report her to be doing incredibly well for her age; she can still walk around, enjoy the occasional nocturnal biscuit, and laments about her passion for singing and music. She has gained increasing media coverage over the last couple of years, when her age became increasingly remarkable in her country; last year, she became the oldest Italian ever, passing the previous record set by Mrs. Dina Manfredini. Moreover, she also became the second-oldest European person ever, trailing only Mrs. Jeanne Calment, who died at the age of 122 years old.

Even though the GRG regards Mrs. Morano as the World's Oldest Person, this record is not yet official. For official confirmation, her age must first be authenticated by Guinness World Records. On top of that, there is always a small possibility that older claimants turn out to exist, only emerging now. However, the GRG is confident that Mrs. Morano will be officially pronounced as the World's Oldest Person in a matter of weeks.

Emma Morano, 116


Susannah Mushatt Jones, 116, world's oldest person, dies

May 13, 2016; Susannah Mushatt Jones, the oldest verified person in the world and the last living American born in the 1800s, has died in New York at the age of 116 years, 311 days.

Born in an Alabama farm on July 6, 1899, Susannah Mushatt Jones was the daughter of crop pickers and the granddaughter of slaves. On March 4, 1922, she graduated from the Calhoun Boarding High School and the graduation roster recognized her for studying "Negro Music in France". After graduation, Mushatt Jones wanted to become a teacher and was accepted to Tuskegee Institute's Teacher's Program. However, her parents were unable to afford the tuition, so in 1923 she moved to New York to further her ambitions.

In 1928, she married Henry Jones; but they divorced after five years, with no children. She subsequently worked as a childminder for wealthy families and supported many of her relatives as they moved to New York. She also used some of her salary to help establish The Calhoun Club, a college scholarship fund for African American women. In 1965, she retired and moved in with her niece, Lavilla Watson, helping to care for Watson's baby son.

Despite becoming legally blind at the age of 100, Ms Jones remained active well into her centenarian years, serving as a member of the tenant patrol of her nursing home until she was 106. She claimed that the secrets to her longevity included plenty of sleep and no smoking, in addition to the less healthy practice of eating four strips of bacon with scrambled egg every day.

In her final years, Mushatt Jones was blind and partially deaf; she retained limited lucidity and used a wheelchair. At the age of 111, Mushatt Jones moved into the Vandalia Senior Center in Brooklyn. On her 112th birthday, she received tribute letters from the mayor of New York City and the governor of New York. After the celebration, she said, "I wish it could be like this all the time." On her 115th, her niece, Lois Judge, told WABC-TV that Jones "gets tired easily these days, but it has been a good day today."

Mushatt Jones became the world's oldest living person and one of two remaining people verified to have been born in the 1800s upon the death of Jeralean Talley on June 17, 2015. On July 3, 2015, three days before her 116th birthday, she was presented with a certificate from Guinness World Records recognizing her as the oldest person alive.

Mushatt Jones received tributes from the United States House of Representatives and from the Alabama House of Representatives "for a remarkable lifetime of exceptional achievement lived during three centuries."

An Italian woman, Emma Morano, now takes on the title of oldest person in the world, and is thought to be the last living person to have been born in the 1890s.

Susie Jones, 115

Click here to see our photo gallery entry for Susannah Mushatt Jones.


Irene Ciuffoletti, 113, oldest person in Pennsylvania, passes away

May 10, 2016; Irene Ciuffoletti, the oldest person in Pennsylvania, has passed away at the age of 113.

This obituary article cites the Gerontology Research Group.


Jamaican woman, 116, is world's third oldest person

May 7, 2016; The Jamaica Observer features an article about 116 year old Violet Moss Brown. Mrs. Brown, the oldest verified person ever from the Caribbean, and the world's third oldest verified living person, is still doing "very well" according to reports.

This article includes a number of longevity statistics sourced from the Gerontology Research Group. To read the article in full, click here.


Lillian Stubbs celebrates 110th birthday

May 6, 2016; The Virginia Gazette features an article about Lillian Stubbs of Williamsburg Landing, Virginia, United States. Mrs. Stubbs, who has two children, seven grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, celebrated her 110th birthday on April 30, 2016. Robert Young, director of the Supercentenarian Research and Database Division of the Gerontology Research Group, explains Stubbs is already in rare company. Based on U.S. data, Young said more than 70,000 people are 100 and older, while the number of people 110 and over is closer to 70.

"The thing that's become clear is that supercentenarians do have commonalities... they tend to not be overweight. They tend to be female. They tend to be self-directed individuals. They don't get emotionally upset about things," he said. Even so, the supercentenarian secret isn't formulaic. To read this article in full, click here.


GRG validates Ana Sara Marquez de Ramirez, 111, the new longevity recordholder of Colombia

May 6, 2016; The GRG is pleased to announce that, thanks to the cordial cooperation with the family and independent researcher Santiago Garcia, the GRG has been able to verify that Ms. Ana Sara Marquez de Ramirez of Colombia is the official Colombian recordholder today. Ana Sara is only the second validated supercentenarian in the history of Colombia, after Daniel Guzman-Garcia (Feb. 6, 1897 - May 21, 2008), who set the original GRG record of 111 years, 105 days for Colombia in 2008 (though he retains the Colombian record for oldest male). Mrs. Marquez de Ramirez, having passed that milestone at 111 years 122 days as of November 24, 2015, is the newly-recognized longevity recordholder of Colombia.

Ana Sara Marquez de Ramirez was born as Ana Mejia Marquez, the daughter of Rafael Marquez and Rosaura Mejia in Salamina, Colombia, on July 25, 1904. She married Juan Ramon Ramirez Ramirez in Sept. 1924. Today, she lives in Seville, Colombia. Her photo gallery entry can be found here.


GRG validates Bienvenida Vergara Jaen de Cano, 112, the first Panama resident to date

April 26, 2016; The Gerontology Research Group is pleased to announce the verification of the first Panamanian supercentenarian in its history, Mrs. Bienvenida Vergara Jaen de Cano. As a result, the GRG expands its worldwide coverage deeper into Central and South America.

What makes this case unique is that this is the first case of a Panamanian resident to be validated to date. Hence, Mrs. Vergara Jaen de Cano is considered as the longevity record-holder of Panama.

Bienvenida Vergara Jaen de Cano was born as the daughter of Silverio Vergara and Vergara Francisca Jaen in Las Tablas, Panama, on Apr. 6, 1904. She married Elias Cano on Sept. 18, 1922. Earlier this month, Bienvenida Vergara Jaen de Cano celebrated her 112th birthday.

Mrs. Vergara Jaen de Cano was born in Las Tablas, Los Santos province, a small town in south Panama, on 6 April 1904, where she would also grow up. Eighteen years later, in 1922, she was married to her husband Elias Cano, who was six years her senior. Together, they would raise a family consisting of at least one daughter, as well as grand- and great-grandchildren. Mrs. Vergara Jaen de Cano has lived in Las Tablas, Panama all her life.

Her case garnered attention in 2012, when her upcoming 108th birthday was mentioned in a local Panamanian newspaper and noticed by GRG correspondent Gabriel Ainsworth. Consequently, correspondent Anson Davis was able to locate the first piece of documentation. However, she was not 110 yet, the minimum age required for acceptance in the GRG Supercentenarian Database, the world's largest database of supercentenarian cases. There was no 110th birthday report, either.

In 2015 -- when a Facebook post was made wishing Mrs. Vergara Jaen de Cano a happy 111th birthday -- the GRG established the necessary details crucial in validating Mrs. Vergara Jaen de Cano's age. As a consequence of this Facebook birthday wish, GRG affiliate Mr. Santiago Garcia -- with the help of GRG correspondent Ricardo Pereira Lago -- was able to contact Mrs. Vergara Jaen de Cano's family, who subsequently provided the GRG with the necessary documents to help fully validate this case.

It is interesting to note that the original 1904 baptismal document had been partially damaged due to weather. However, enough of the material remained to allow for unique identifiers to be made between the 1904 document, the 1922 document, and the person alive today at age 112. The result of all these efforts is that the GRG was able to validate its first Panamanian supercentenarian, thereby extending its world coverage and adding one more nation to the world's largest supercentenarian database, which has been the consultant for Guinness World Records for the world's oldest person title since January 2000. As the GRG could not have done this without help from the family, volunteers, and correspondents, it would like to thank all parties involved for their efforts.


Guinness World Records recognises Polish-born Israeli Israel Kristal, 112, as the current World's Oldest Living Man

The GRG is pleased to announce that Israel Kristal (born Sept. 15, 1903) has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the World's Oldest Man. Mr. Kristal's life tells a most remarkable story, with being a Holocaust survivor only one of the many hardships he has had to face. Israel Kristal was born as Izrael Icek Krysztal to Mojzesz Dawid Krysztal and Brucha Krysztal (nee Rojt) in the Polish village of Malenie (then part of the Russian Empire) on September 15, 1903; his mother would die only ten years later in 1913. As his father was drafted during the First World War, Kristal was forced to work hard on a farm to earn his living as a teenager. In 1920, he was reunited with his father and siblings in Lodz, where the family opened a confectionary. Israel Kristal became a candy maker, which would remain his lifelong profession; later, this would prompt reporters world-wide to refer to his story as a "bittersweet long life" in articles devoted to him. In 1928, at the age of 25, Israel Kristal married Chaja Fajga Frucht in Wegleszyn, Poland. The couple had two children. The Kristal family ran a local chocolate and candy business until the outbreak of the Second World War, when Lodz was occupied by Nazi-Germany. The Nazis forced the Jewish population of Lodz, including the Kristal family, to move to a district called the "Litzmannstadt Ghetto"; Israel Kristal would live there for four years, until he was deported to Auschwitz in August 1944, where he would remain for another three months. Subsequently, he would be a prisoner in the labour camps of Wuestegiersdorf, Doernau, and Schottenwerk, where he would regain his freedom in May 1945 by the hands of allied forces. Although his wife and children had been killed in the Holocaust, Israel Kristal did not lose his will to live after this devastating loss. Instead, he returned to Lodz, where he would restart the confectionary and marry his second wife, Szejwa (nee Chuda). Together, they had a son: Chaim Dawid. In 1950, Mr. Kristal and his family decided to leave Poland to settle in Haifa, Israel, where he has lived ever since.

Due to the hardships Mr. Kristal had to face in his early life, the validation of his age proved to be extremely difficult; even though the first attempts to validate Mr. Kristal's age had started in early 2014, a breakthrough was only realised in January 2016. In order to validate his age, the Gerontology Research Group not only contacted Mr. Kristal's family, but also international institutions specializing in genealogical research; therefore, a special word of appreciation should go to the Jewish Records Indexing in Poland. As a result of this international cooperation, sufficient early-life, middle-life, and late-life evidence was obtained to meet modern validation standards. As a result of this, Mr. Kristal has now been recognised as the oldest living man in the world.

As of today, Mr. Israel Kristal is the second validated supercentenarian in the history of Israel, after Dr. Maria Pogonowska (1897-2009), who was also born in Poland. On top of that, he is the new longevity record-holder of Israel.

Israel Kristal, 112
Mr Kristal receives his World's Oldest Man certificate from Marco Frigatti, Head of Records at Guinness World Records.

Written by: GRG Poland Correspondent, Waclaw Jan Kroczek


GRG validates the first Mexico resident to date

February 22, 2016: GRG is pleased to announce that we have officially processed the case of Ambrosia Acosta-Teran today. What makes this case unique is that this is the first case of a Mexican resident to be validated to date. While GRG had previously validated two native-born Mexican supercentenarians, Soledad Mexia and Dominga Velasco, they had emigrated outside Mexico during their lifetimes. Dominga Velasco is the current recordholder as the oldest person born in Mexico, having lived to 114 years, 152 days.

The coverage of Ambrosia Acosta-Terna was published in the Pulso de San Luis newspaper in Mexico earlier this month on February 1, 2016:

http://pulsoslp.com.mx/2016/02/01/potosina-a-lista-de-super-centenarios/


A Celebration Of The Oldest Person On Record: Calment's Day

February 22, 2016; On February 21 there was a celebration of the birthday of Jeanne Calment, the oldest verified human being ever. This initiative was launched by Gerontology Research Group member Victor Bjork. The celebration involved posting a picture of oneself consuming Calment's favourite foods of olive oil, dark chocolate and port wine.

To read more about this celebration, click on the link below:

http://www.longevityreporter.org/blog/2016/1/31/a-celebration-of-the-longest-lived-person-on-record-calments-day


The 3rd-oldest American, Helen Wheat, dies at 113

February 19, 2016; Helen Wheat of Maryland, United States, has died at the age of 113. At the time of her death, she was the 3rd oldest living person in America. According to her son, Richard Naylor, "She was just an inspiration to everybody. She was just so positive about everything. She made the world a better place to live."

The following obituary features statistics provided by the Gerontology Research Group:

http://www.ydr.com/story/news/local/2016/02/17/3rd-oldest-american-york-native-dies-113/80508922/


World's Oldest Man, Yasutaro Koide, of Nagoya Prefecture, Japan, dies at age 112

January 20, 2016; World's Oldest Man, Yasutaro Koide, of Nagoya Prefecture, Japan, previously of Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, has died of heart failure and pneumonia in Nagoya on January 19, 2016.

Here's an article about his death:

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/19/asia/japan-oldest-man-dies/index.html?eref=edition

Here's an article about about him, written when he was confirmed as the World's Oldest Man:

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2015/8/guinness-world-records-introduces-yasutaro-koide-the-new-oldest-living-man-393200

His Photo Gallery can be found here:

https://grg.org/Gallery/1903Gallery.html#Yasutaro_Koide


Click here to return to the GRG News page