EAST NEW YORK — A Brooklyn woman who held the title of “World’s Oldest Living Person” died Thursday at the age of 116, according to Guinness World Records.
Susannah Mushatt Jones, of East New York, had been ill for the past 10 days and died at her senior home in Brooklyn, the Associated Press reported.
Jones was 116 years and 311 days old, according to the Gerontology Research Group, a global organization of researchers that tracks centenarians and supercentenarians.
She was born in Alabama on July 6, 1899 — the same year voting machines were first approved by Congress and Queens and Staten Island joined New York City.
She moved to New York in 1923, working as a housekeeper and childcare provider.
The supercentenarian’s secret to longevity was sleep, she told Guinness World Records, and at the time of her 116th birthday last July she was only taking two medications a day.
Known as "Miss Susie" and “Tee” (short for auntie), she has 100 nieces and nephews, the record organization said.
In 2005, the New York City Housing Authority recognized Jones for her daily participation in the Vandalia Avenue Houses tenant patrol.
She moved into the senior housing development in 1983 when it first opened, according to NYCHA.
“NYCHA and the world has lost a beloved member of the community," NYCHA CEO and Chair Shola Olatoye said in a statement.
"In the more than thirty years Miss Susie made public housing her home, she was a joy and inspiration to all who knew her. She will be missed.”
#EastNewYork and indeed all of #Brooklyn were proud neighbors to the #worldsoldestperson, Susannah Mushatt Jones. Rest in peace, Miss Susie.
— Eric Adams (@BPEricAdams) May 13, 2016
Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, of Italy, is now the world’s oldest living person at 116 years and 166 days, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
The Guinness World record holder for oldest person ever to have lived is Jeanne Calment of France, who lived to 122 years and 164 days.
