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World's oldest person dies in Brazil at age 114
In this photo released by the Guinness World Records organization and taken on March 11, 2011, Brazilian Maria Gomes Valentim, 114, poses for a photo in Carangola, in Brazil's Minas Gerais state. (AP Photo/Guinness World Records)
SAO PAULO - A Brazilian woman listed by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest person has died just weeks shy of her 115th birthday.
Maria Gomes Valentim died Tuesday morning in the southeastern city of Carangola. Helerson Lima of the Carangola senior home facility says Valentim died of multiple organ failure.
On May 18, Guinness determined that Valentim was 48 days older than the person previously considered the world's oldest human, Besse Cooper of Monroe, Ga.
Guinness verified that Valentim was born July 9, 1896, in Carangola, where she lived all her life.
She married her husband, Joao, in 1913. He died in 1946.
Valentim is survived by four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and five great-great grandchildren. Her son died at age 75.
Valentim attributed her longevity to eating a daily roll of bread for breakfast along with fruit though she indulged in the occasional nip of wine.
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