Fannie Buten, 111, one of the oldest people in the world

Fannie Buten, 111, one of the oldest people in the world and a member of the family that founded the M. Buten & Sons paint company, has died.

Mrs. Buten died Friday of a stroke at Einstein at Elkins Park. She was the oldest person in Pennsylvania and one of the oldest in the world, according to a gerontology research group.

A graveside service was held for her on Sunday at Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Collingdale.

Mrs. Buten was the 37th-oldest person in the world, said Stephen Coles, director of the Gerontology Research Group at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles. Coles said she was probably the oldest Jewish person in the world.

Coles said his organization has been keeping a list of the world's "supercentenarians" - people 110 years old and older - for the last 15 years.

Mrs. Buten's death leaves 77 supercentenarians worldwide, 74 women and three men, Coles said.

Mrs. Buten was born Fannie Forman in Austria in 1899 and came to the United States with her parents, Louis, a tailor, and Rebecca Forman, a few years later. She was one of five daughters. They lived in West Philadelphia.

She was a graduate of William Penn High School for Girls in the city's Spring Garden section, according to her high school yearbook. The book states that she was the vice president of the student association. She worked as a secretary after graduation.

In 1920, she met Mottie Buten. He was one of four brothers who were partners in the M. Buten & Sons paint company, which operated a chain of stores in the Philadelphia area, relatives said.

They married in 1923 and had two daughters, Marjorie Steinberg and Marcia B. Picus, who died in 1999. The couple lived in Upper Darby and later moved to the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia, where they spent many years raising their family.

Mrs. Buten became a homemaker and dedicated her life to raising her daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, relatives said.

"She was a very caring mother who was concerned with her children's and grandchildren's welfare," said Marjorie Steinberg. "Children were her main interest."

Mrs. Buten "loved to cook their favorite things for them," Steinberg said. "If they said they liked something, she would make it repeatedly for them."

She also enjoyed taking her grandchildren out to lunch and shopping, Steinberg said.

Asked about her mother's longevity, Steinberg said Mrs. Buten "was not an exerciser. She never watched her diet. She loved her coffee and her chocolate and ice cream. She was not a heavy woman. She never had to watch her diet."

In addition to caring for her children and grandchildren, Mrs. Buten "liked anything beautiful in the way of fine china, silver, antiques, and crystal," Steinberg said. "It's funny: She came from humble beginnings, and how she acquired a taste for these things was beautiful."

Relatives said Mrs. Buten and her husband played golf. They enjoyed traveling to Florida and Hawaii and taking cruises with their friends. Mottie Buten died in 1963.

She had been an active member of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park since the 1960s, her daughter said.

In recent years, Mrs. Buten lived in Bala Cynwyd with a home health aide.

Mrs. Buten loved flower gardening and playing gin rummy and mah-jongg. She also was always very well dressed in the latest fine clothing, Steinberg said. Mrs. Buten drove a car into her 90s.

Mrs. Buten's son-in-law, S. Ty Steinberg, recalled a saying that she used: "It's easy to give money, but the most important thing is to give of yourself."