World’s Oldest Person Passes Away at 117
Maria Branyas, the world’s oldest person, has passed away at the age of 117 after spending the last two decades of her life in a nursing home in northeastern Spain.
“Maria Branyas Morera has left us. She passed away as she wished, peacefully in her sleep, without pain,” her family announced on social media platform X on August 20. “We will always remember her for her wise counsel and kindness.”
Branyas was born in 1907 in San Francisco to a family originally from Catalonia, Spain. In 1915, her family decided to return to Spain, during the tumultuous times of World War I, making the transatlantic journey difficult. Her father tragically died of tuberculosis just as the journey was nearing its end.
Branyas and her mother settled in Barcelona, where she married a doctor in 1931. The Spanish Civil War erupted five years later, lasting until 1939. She lived with her husband for 40 years until his death at the age of 72. Branyas had three children, one of whom predeceased her, 11 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.
She spent the last two decades of her life at the Santa Maria del Tura nursing home in Olot, northeastern Spain. Manel Esteller, a researcher at the University of Barcelona, studied Branyas’ DNA to understand the reasons for her remarkable longevity. He expressed amazement at her health.
“She was completely lucid. She had a vivid memory of her life from the age of 4, and she didn’t suffer from the cardiovascular diseases that are common in the elderly. Her only health issues were related to mobility and hearing. It’s truly unbelievable,” Esteller remarked.
With Branyas’ passing, Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka, born on May 23, 1908, has become the world’s oldest person at 116 years old, according to the U.S. Gerontology Research Group.
The oldest person ever recorded was Jeanne Louise Calment of France, who passed away in 1997 at the age of 122.
Earlier on the day of her passing, Branyas had posted that she was “feeling weak.” “The time is near. Don’t cry; I don’t like tears. Above all, do not suffer because of me. I will be happy wherever I go,” she shared.
In January 2023, the Guinness World Records recognized Branyas as the world’s oldest person after French nun Lucile Randon passed away at 118. Branyas had lived through the 1918 flu pandemic, both World Wars, and the Spanish Civil War. She also contracted COVID-19 in 2020, just weeks after celebrating her 113th birthday.
Rosa Moret, Branyas’ youngest daughter, previously stated that her mother’s longevity was “due to her genes.” “She never had to go to the hospital, never broke a bone. She was doing well and never felt any pain,” Moret said in 2023.
