world’s oldest man

World’s oldest man dies at age 111

111-years

A 111-year-old New Yorker who had been certified as the oldest man in the world has died.

Alexander Imich died Sunday morning at a senior residence in Manhattan, his niece, Karen Bogen

Imich was certified as the oldest man in the world this April by the Gerontology Research Group of Torrance, California. “He was remarkable,” Bogen said.

“He was so independent until very recently, and he just had an incredible curiosity about life.” Imich was born in Poland on February 4, 1903, according to a longtime friend in New York, Michael Mannion.

He and his wife, Wela, fled Poland when the Nazis took over, survived a labor camp in Russia and in 1951 moved to the United States, Mannion said. His wife, who was a prolific artist and therapist in New York, died in 1986, according to Bogen.

“His apartment was filled with her artwork,” she said. They had no children.

Mannion told that when Imich learned he was the oldest man in the world, he “enjoyed the attention.”

“It was his work that he was most proud of, and he was happiest when the attention included his scientific work,” Mannion said.

Despite a doctorate in zoology, Imich’s passion was investigating paranormal activity, Mannion said. He detailed his encounters with the supernatural in “Incredible Tales of the Paranormal,” a journal that was published when he was 92.

While Imich’s lengthy life can be attributed to diet, exercise and nutrition, Mannion says his great passion and curiosity for life were the real keys to his longevity.

“He had such an ability to turn adversity into something positive. That intense curiosity was there until the last days,” said Mannion, who had visited Imich the night before he died.

A 116-year-old Japanese woman, Misao Okawa, is the world’s oldest living person, according to the Gerontology Research Group. The title of world’s oldest man now goes to Sakari Momoi, also of Japan, who was born just a day after Imich in 1903, the group said.

Source: cnn

 

 

New York City man becomes world’s oldest man at age 111

111 years

The year Alexander Imich was born, Theodore Roosevelt was president and the Wright brothers piloted their first powered airplane. Imich, born in 1903, is the oldest man alive, at age 111.

Imich took the title of oldest male supercentenarian — someone over 110 — when Arturo Licata of Italy died on April 24, just shy of his 112th birthday.

However, Imich is not the oldest person in the world. Sixty-six women are older than him, with the oldest being 116-year-old Misao Okawa of Japan, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

His secrets to longevity? Imich cites the fact that he and his wife never had children, reports The New York Times.

Imich also said he was always athletic and gave up smoking long ago, reports the Times.

Additionally, he doesn’t have a big appetite and eats “like a little bird,” one of Imich’s friends told WABC-TV in New York City.

Imich, a Polish immigrant who lives in New York City, is a scholar of the occult and published a book on paranormal activity at age 92, the Times reports.

Even at age 111, Imich doesn’t have all of life’s answers. He told WABC there’s one thing he’s still trying figure out: “I wanted to understand the universe and myself in it.”

Source: khou