March 13--Earlier this week, when 111-year old Ruth Adler fell ill, her family wasn't sure what to think.
At 107, Adler had broken her hip and some relatives figured it would be the end.
"We thought, 'she's had a great life and this is it,'" recalled Jody Weinberg, one of Adler's close relatives and a dear companion. But Adler "had surgery and was up and walking."
Keeping that memory and others in mind, Weinberg said she was optimistic about Adler's health when she recently developed a cough and fever.
"I expected her to sit up and say, 'I'm hungry. Get me something to eat," Weinberg said. "But this time, she couldn't rally."
Adler died Saturday, Weinberg said.
There wasn't a big secret behind Adler's many years on Earth, Weinberg said. Adler "didn't really understand" her good health. Sometimes she'd attribute it to chicken schmaltz -- chicken fat.
"Her favorite line was, 'The guy upstairs isn't ready for me yet,'" said Weinberg, who guessed that Adler must've had good genes and a strong immune system.
In recent months, Adler's hearing had worsened and she "was a little bit more distant and not as engaged." But even so, Adler had a "wonderful birthday party" in January and kept in touch with a knitting group she called her "sewing ladies."
To the end, Adler read two newspapers a day and kept up with her favorite magazines. In January 2015, the Tribune featured Adler's story as she prepared to turn 110, which made her a supercentenarian.
Adler grew up on the South Side, where her father owned a hardware store that made deliveries with the help of a horse that lived in a barn behind their house, the Tribune reported. She was the youngest of five children.
Jay Olshansky, professor of public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago and an expert on longevity, previously told the Tribune that people who live more than 100 years don't have health secrets to reveal.
"They won the genetic lottery at birth," Olshansky said.
When she turned 50, Adler started a market research firm in her den and retired at 89, Weinberg said.
That firm, Adler Weiner Research, remains open and includes four locations in Illinois and California.
"She bore witness to so many changes in this century. She never stopped really keeping up with technology and adapting to the latest trends," Weinberg said. "She was always interested in other people's lives. She was a strong opinionated woman who was generous and a wonderful friend, and she had a sharp wit."
Weinberg said Adler loved her friends and her family. She had no children with her husband, who died in Adler's early 80s.
Adler also "loved to go to Las Vegas and play the slots. She loved to laugh and she enjoyed going to the shows in Las Vegas and traveling the world," Weinberg said. "So she really lived a very very full life."
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