| Antonia Gerena Rivera | |
 Gerena Rivera at the age of 110. | |
| Birth: | 19 May 1900 Loiza, Puerto Rico |
| Death: | 2 June 2015 Miami, Florida, USA |
| Age: | 115 years, 14 days |
| Country: |  PRI, USAUSA
|
| Validated | |
Antonia Gerena Rivera (married name Solis; 19 May 1900 – 2 June 2015) was a validated Puerto Rican-American supercentenarian. She lived to the age of 115 years, 14 days and was the sixth-oldest living person in the world and the third-oldest in the United States. She is also the oldest person ever who died in Florida and is the second-oldest person ever to have been born in Puerto Rico and the oldest woman born there.
Biography
Antonia Gerena Rivera was born in the town of Loiza, Puerto Rico and raised in Barrio Cubuy, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico on 19 May 1900 to Jose Felix Gerena and Basilia Rivera. She had nine children. She was of Canarian ancestry. She had a long lived family: her brother Frank lived to the age of 105 and her sister Maria lived to 103. She had eight children, two of them survived her (Carmen and Fe), and had 27 surviving grandchildren. Her family said that the genes of their family, and drinks brandy were the reasons of her longevity. Her family describe her as a "strong and worker woman".
She holds the record for being the oldest Puerto Rican-born woman ever, and the second-oldest person behind Emiliano Mercado del Toro (1891–2007, who holds the overall island record at 115 years, 156 days), and also holds the record for being the Florida's oldest resident ever, surpassing Mathew Beard’s age of 114 years, 222 days, set in 1985 (Carrie White's claim to 116 in 1991 was later retracted when a subsequent investigation cast doubt upon her age).
Antonia had met Stan Primmer, director of the Supercentenarian Research Foundation, as well as Dr L. Stephen Coles, Co-Founder of Gerontology Research Group, and her family had contributed to genetic supercentenarian study groups. She was also visited twice (in 2011 and 2015) by Robert Young, Director of GRG Supercentenarians Department and Guinness World Records' Senior Consultant for Gerontology. She was also mentioned in Guinness World Records 2015 as the seventh-oldest living person worldwide (in fact, she was in eighth place because an anonymous Japanese woman, born 15 March 1900, has been certified only afterwards).
She died in Miami, Florida, USA on 2 June 2015 at the age of 115 years, 14 days as the world's sixth-oldest person (behind Jeralean Talley, Susannah Mushatt Jones, Emma Morano, Violet Brown, and an anonymous Japanese woman), and the third-oldest in the United States (behind Jeralean Talley, and Susannah Mushatt Jones).
Gallery
References
- Gerontology Research Group
- Las personas más longevas Supercentenarios Latinoamericanos (LAS)
- Florida's oldest woman, dead at 115, relied on genes and brandy Miami Herald, 8 June 2015
- Antonia Gerena Rivera Find A Grave