September 1, 2006 - Los Angeles - AP
George Johnson, considered California's oldest living person
at 112 and the state's last surviving World War I veteran,
had experts shaking their heads over his junk food diet.
"He had terrible bad habits. He had a diet largely of
sausages and waffles," Dr. L. Stephen Coles, founder
of the Gerontology Research Group at the University of
California, Los Angeles, said Friday.
The 5-foot-7, 140-pound Johnson died of pneumonia
Wednesday at his Richmond home in Northern California.
"A lot of people think or imagine that your good habits and
bad habits contribute to your longevity," Coles said. "But
we often find it is in the genes rather than lifestyle."
He remained in good health and continued driving until
he was 102, when his vision began to fail.
Johnson, who was blind and living alone until his 110th
birthday when a caregiver began helping him, built the
Richmond house by hand in 1935. He got around using
a walker in recent years.
Johnson's wife died in 1992 at the age of 92.
George Johnson, considered California's oldest living person
at 112 and the state's last surviving World War I veteran,
had experts shaking their heads over his junk food diet.
"He had terrible bad habits. He had a diet largely of
sausages and waffles," Dr. L. Stephen Coles, founder
of the Gerontology Research Group at the University of
California, Los Angeles, said Friday.
The 5-foot-7, 140-pound Johnson died of pneumonia
Wednesday at his Richmond home in Northern California.
"A lot of people think or imagine that your good habits and
bad habits contribute to your longevity," Coles said. "But
we often find it is in the genes rather than lifestyle."
He remained in good health and continued driving until
he was 102, when his vision began to fail.
Johnson, who was blind and living alone until his 110th
birthday when a caregiver began helping him, built the
Richmond house by hand in 1935. He got around using
a walker in recent years.
Johnson's wife died in 1992 at the age of 92.
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