The world's oldest man on record, Spanish sugar cane worker Salustiano "Shorty" Sanchez, born in 1901, died Sept. 13 at a nursing home in Grand Island, N.Y. at the age of 112, according to the Guardian.
Although many have claimed to be alive and older than Sanchez (Carmelo Flores Laura of Bolivia claims to have turned 123 in July), he was the oldest living man recognized by Guinness World Records. MJ Colucci & Son Funeral Chapels of Niagara Falls, N.Y. announced news of his death on their website.
According to Guinness, Sanchez had been the oldest living man after 116-year-old Jiroemon Kimura of Japan died in June. Sanchez, El Tejado de Bejar, Spain, was a sugar cane worker in Cuba before he emigrated to the U.S. to work at a Kentucky coalmine. He enjoyed gardening, crossword puzzles, and liked to play gin rummy with his friends every night. Sanchez attributed his longevity to eating one banana a day and taking Anacin, an over-the-counter pain medication.
In the early 1930s, Sanchez moved to New York, where he met and married his wife, Pearl, in 1934. He became a construction worker for 30 years at Union Carbide Co. before retiring, and is survived by two children, seven grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and five great-great grandchildren.
Back in June, Sanchez's 69-year-old daughter, Irene Johnson, spoke to the New York Daily News on her father's attitude towards his age.
"He says, 'I'm an old man and let's leave it at that,'" she said, explaining that in 2007, she decided it would be best to move her father from her house to a nursing home. After the death of his wife, Pearl, things weren't easy for the family.
"We did our best," Johnson said of the years she spent living with her father following the death of her mother. "We weren't going to put him somewhere just because he was old."
As for how he got to be so old, Johnson attributed it simply to his resolve not to die.
"I think it's just because he's an independent, stubborn man," she said.
The oldest living woman ever authenticated was Jeanne Louise Calment of France, who lived to be 122 years and 164 days.
Click here to read Sanchez-Blazquez's obituary.
