Maria Branyas Morera, the world’s oldest verified living person, has passed away on August 19, 2024, at the age of 117 years and 5 months.
Maria was born in 1907 in San Francisco, California, before she moved to Spain with her family in 1915 and lived through significant historical events, including the Spanish Civil War and the 1918 flu pandemic, according to the family.
“Maria Branyas has left us. She died as she wished: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain,” her family wrote on her account on social network X.
Maria attributed her longevity to living an orderly life without excesses and maintaining a positive social environment.
She was known for her remarkable memory and clarity of mind, even in her later years.
She became the eighth longest-living person ever, according to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) when she attained 117 years and 138 days old, surpassing the Italian Emma Morano.
Guinness World Records had officially acknowledged Branyas’s status as the world’s oldest person in January 2023 following the death of French nun Lucile Randon aged 118. Maria Branyas resided at Santa Maria del Tura in Olot for over two decades.
Maria Branyas Morera had memories of both World War I and the Spanish Civil War, and in 2020, she survived COVID-19 at 113.
