The person recognised as the oldest Jew in the world died this week.

New York-born Evelyn Kozak, 113, known for her love of scrabble and literature, died after suffering a heart attack on Tuesday morning. She was buried in Queens.

Ms Kozak, a former valedictorian at her grammar school in Brooklyn, attributed her longevity to her healthy lifestyle.

A mother of five, she outlived two of her children and two husbands having survived two strokes and the Spanish 'flu. She has 10 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.

The supercentenarian, an ardent Zionist and practising Jew, was named the seventh-oldest person in the world. The oldest person in the world, Jiroemon Kimura from Japan, died on Wednesday aged 116.

In honour of her 110th birthday, ‘Evelyn Kozak Day’ was declared in Pittsburgh – where she lived at the time of the celebration.