Gertrude Baines, shown April 6 celebrating her 115th birthday at the Western Convalescent Hospital in Los Angeles, died Friday. (Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press)

Gertrude Baines, the world's oldest known person who once quipped she had won the genetic lottery, died Friday at a nursing home in Los Angeles at age 115.

Baines likely suffered a heart attack and died in her sleep, but an autopsy will be conducted to confirm the cause of death, said her longtime physician, Dr. Charles Witt.

Born in 1894 in Shellman, Ga., Baines claimed the title of the world's oldest living person when another 115-year-old woman, Maria de Jesus, died in Portugal in January.

The oldest person in the world is now Kama Chinen, 114, who was born May 10, 1895, and lives in Japan, according to Dr. L. Stephen Coles of the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks claims of extreme old age.

The oldest person ever was Jeanne-Louise Calment, according to Coles. She was 122 when she died Aug. 4, 1997, in Arles, France.

Baines outlived her entire family, including her only daughter, who died of typhoid. She had worked as a maid in Ohio State University dormitories until her retirement and had lived at the Western Convalescent Hospital for more than 10 years.

Nurses at Western Convalescent Hospital described Baines as a modest woman who liked to watch the Jerry Springer Show, and eat fried chicken, bacon and ice cream. She refused to use dentures.