A lawyer who gambled in a 1965 property deal that an elderly woman would soon die, only to see her live to become the world's oldest person, has himself died at the age of 77.

Lawyer Andre-Francois Raffray was buried Wednesday in the southern French city of Arles after dying on Christmas Day, a secretary in his law firm said.

The woman, Jeanne Calment, celebrated Christmas with a meal at an Arles hotel, looking forward to her 121st birthday on Feb. 21, the Arles city hall said.

When Calment was 90, Raffray, then 47, agreed to pay her a "rent" of $500 a month until she died, on condition he would inherit her house in Arles, a system common in France.

Throughout the next 30 years, Raffray paid Calment more than $180,000, three times the value of the house.

"We all make bad deals in life," Calment joked to Raffray on her 120th birthday.