World's oldest person dies

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Maria Esther de Capovilla, believed to be the world's oldest person, has died at 116, her granddaughter said.

Catherine Capovilla, 46, a property manager and real estate agent in Miami, said Capovilla died Sunday at 3 a.m. local time in a hospital in the coastal city of Guayaquil. She died two days after coming down with pneumonia. Her funeral was planned for Monday.

Born on September 14, 1889 -- the same year as Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler -- Capovilla was married in 1917 and widowed in 1949.

Robert Young, senior consultant for Gerontology for Guinness World Records, said Elizabeth Bolden of Memphis, Tenn., now appears to be the oldest person alive.

"Guinness World Records will have to make an official announcement from London," he said. "For all practical purposes, the next oldest person is going to be presumed to be Elizabeth Bolden. She is 116, but she was born 11 months after Capovilla."

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