Gertrude Baines was 115, the world's oldest person. She died in her sleep at Western Convalescent Hospital. Baines was a native of Shellman, Ga., and her father was believed to have been a slave. She was born in 1894, when Grover Cleveland was president. From the LAT:

Growing up in Georgia while Jim Crow laws were in effect, Baines lived through a time when blacks were blocked from voting and subject to violent racism. She lived in Ohio for some time and worked as a maid at Ohio State University. She then moved to California, where she settled in Los Angeles. The supercentenarian lived alone with the help of a caretaker until she turned 107.