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Evelyn Kozak, world’s oldest Jewish person, dies at 113

Evelyn Kozak, the world’s oldest Jewish person, died in New York at the age of 113.

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(JTA) — Evelyn Kozak, the world’s oldest Jewish person, died in New York at the age of 113.

Kozak, who was also the world’s seventh oldest person,  died last week, a day after having a heart attack. She would have been 114 in August.

She was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City in 1899, one of nine children in a family that had left Russia in the 1880s to escape the anti-Semitic pogroms. Kozak was Sabbath observant and kept kosher.

A widow since 1957, Kozak outlived two husbands. She had five children, 10 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild, according to The Associated Press.

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