New York, May 26 – A 111-year-old US man has been crowned the world’s oldest living man by the Guinness World Records. Guinness announced Dr Alexander Imich, a parapsychologist and retired chemist, from the New York City as the new oldest living man.
The latest record was verified after the previous title holder Arturo Licata of Italy passed away last month aged 111 years and 357 days. Imich was born in present-day Czestochowa, Poland, which was then part of the Russian Empire, on February 4, 1903.
In 1951, he and his wife, Wela, immigrated to the US from the Soviet Union and Imich has lived in Manhattan alone since she passed away in 1986, Guinness said. While his own longevity has surprised even himself, Imich credits his life to good genes and an overall moderate, healthy lifestyle by which he has eaten very leanly his entire life.
Imich’s passion and curiosity about parapsychology shaped his motto, which is that one should “always pursue what one loves and is passionate about.” Robert Young, Senior Gerontology Consultant for Guinness World Records, verified the latest achievement by utilising Imich’s birth record, immigration papers and university records.
Stuart Claxton, a Guinness World Records Official, visited Imich in his home in Manhattan’s Upper West Side to present him with his official plaque. Imich’s history and recognition encompasses a variety of milestones, Guinness said.
“He is both the oldest living war veteran and the first ‘oldest living man’ to hold a doctorate,” Young said. Misao Okawa of Japan, who is aged 116, is currently recognised by Guinness as the world’s ‘Oldest Living Person’ overall. She was born on March 5, 1898 and lives in Osaka. The greatest fully authenticated age to which any human has ever lived is 122 years, 164 days by Jeanne Louise Calment of France, said Guinness.
-INDIA TODAY
