Pearl Berg, world's oldest Jewish person and 9th-oldest overall, dies at 114

(JTA) — Pearl Berg, thought to be the oldest Jewish person in the world and the third oldest American, died Feb. 1 in Los Angeles. She was 114.

A philanthropist active in her local Hadassah chapter, Berg was married for 58 years to Mark Berg, a businessman and investor. He died in 1989.

“She maybe had a sip of Sabbath wine but she didn’t drink, she didn’t smoke, she ate sensibly, she had good emotional balance and she clearly had remarkable genes,” Berg’s youngest son, Robert Berg, told the Los Angeles Times.

Berg was born Oct. 1, 1909, in Indiana and raised in Pittsburgh, where she was confir...