LOS ANGELES - George Johnson, considered California's oldest living person and the state's last surviving World War I veteran, died Wednesday of pneumonia, said Dr. L. Stephen Coles, founder of the Gerontology Research Group at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was 112.

Coles said the 5-foot-7, 140-pound Johnson lived almost exclusively off junk food like sausages and waffles.

Johnson, who was blind and living alone until his 110th birthday when a caregiver began helping him, built his Richmond house by hand in 1935. He got around using a walker in recent years.

Johnson was the only living Californian considered a "supercentenarian," a designation for those ages 110 or older, Coles said.

Born May 1, 1894, Johnson's father managed the Baltimore and Ohio Railway station in Philadelphia.

Johnson was working in 1917 as a mail sorter for the U.S. Post Office when he was drafted into the Army. World War I ended and he never served in combat.

Two years later, he and his wife moved to Northern California.

During World War II, Johnson worked at the Kaiser shipyard in Richmond and later managed the heating plant at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland.

He remained in good health and continued driving until he was 102, when his vision began to fail.