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| Photo Credit – AFP Photo by Kyotango government |
have lived has died of natural causes aged 116, officials in Japan said
on yesterday. Jiroemon Kimura, who was born in 1897, died in hospital early
Wednesday morning “from old age”, an official in Kyoto’s Kyotango city
said in a statement.
Kimura, who was from Kyotango, was hospitalised in early May
suffering from pneumonia. A few days ago doctors noted that his
condition was worsening,
Kimura was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest
living person in December 2012, after a woman from the United States
died at the age of 115.
That month he also broke another record when he was verified as the
oldest man ever to have lived, after reaching the age of 115 years and
253 days.
However, he was well off the all-time record set by French woman
Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122, making her the
longest living person in history.
Kimura, who was born the same year as American aviation pioneer
Amelia Earhart, celebrated his 116th birthday in April, receiving a
pre-recorded video greeting from Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The centenarian had seven children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grand
children and 15 great-great grandchildren, and worked at a post office
for about 40 years. After retiring he took up farming which he continued
to do until the age of 90.
He did not smoke and only ate until he was 80 percent full, the local official told AFP.
Kimura’s motto in life was “to eat light and live long,” the official added.
The image below shows Jeanne Calment enjoying a chocolate cake on her
122nd birthday, in Arles, France, on February 21, 1997. Calment died in
in August that year, becoming the longest living person in history.
my grand pa is currently 130 now and still healthy heady and alive