The World’s Oldest Man Dies At Age 112

Aug. 21, 2015, Yasutaro Koide, 112, holds the Guinness World Records certificate

Yasutaro Koide, the oldest man in the world, died on Tuesday at the age of 112. Koide was born in Japan on March 13, 1903.

In the year Koide was born, the Wright brothers made their historic first flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the second Olympic games had only just been held and a modernizing Japan was embroiled in a dispute with Russia over Manchuria that would erupt into the Russo-Japanese War in early 1904.

Koide (pronounced ‘Ko-ee-deh’) worked as a tailor when he was younger. He was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest man last August. Guinness Records reported he has seven children, nine grandchildren and one great grandchild.

At the time he was quoted as saying his secret to long life was not smoking or drinking, not to overdo things and to “live with joy”.

Officials said he died of heart failure and pneumonia early on Tuesday.

It is not yet clear who succeeds him as the oldest man.

The title of world’s oldest person is held by American woman Susannah Mushatt Jones, who is 116 years old.

She took the title last year after the death of Misao Okawa in Japan at the age of 117.

The oldest person who has ever lived according to Guinness was Jeanne Calment of France, who lived 122 years and 164 days. She died in August 1997.