Juan Vicente Pérez
Pérez on his 113th birthday in May 2022
Born(1909-05-27)27 May 1909
(age 114 years, 234 days)
El Cobre, Táchira, Venezuela
NationalityVenezuelan
Occupation(s)Farmer, sheriff, construction worker
Known for
Spouse
Ediofina del Rosario García
​
​
(m. 1938; died 1997)​
Children11 (5 deceased)

Juan Vicente Pérez Mora (born 27 May 1909) is a Venezuelan supercentenarian who, aged 114 years and 234 days, has been the world's oldest verified living man since the death of Spain's Saturnino de la Fuente García on 18 January 2022.[1] He is the last surviving man verified to have been born in the 1900s decade,[2][3] and the fourth-oldest verified man ever, after Jiroemon Kimura, Christian Mortensen and Emiliano Mercado del Toro.

Biography

Pérez and Del Rosario on their wedding day in 1938

Early life

Pérez was born on 27 May 1909 in El Cobre, Venezuela, as the ninth child of Eutiquio Pérez and Edelmira Mora.[4][5] In his early youth, his family moved to Los Paujiles in San José de Bolívar, Táchira, to work in agriculture. He mainly worked in harvesting sugar cane and coffee.[5] He became literate from a book handed to him by his teacher, who became ill very soon after Pérez enrolled in school.[4][5] In 1938, he married Ediofina del Rosario García (1916–1997), and they had six sons and five daughters in total, the first of whom, José Juan (1939–2013), was born in Los Paujiles.[4]

Work

Aged 31, he and his wife moved to the town of Caricuena to buy a farm and he worked alongside his brother Miguel Arcángel. The rest of his children were born there. He became a sheriff of Caricuena in 1948 and his main job was resolving land and family disputes.[5] In the late 1950s, Pérez was hired to work on the construction of the highway between San José de Bolívar and Queniquea. Due to the lack of machinery, he used a pick and shovel. He was paid two bolívars a day and if all work was not finished in one day, he wasn't paid until the next.[1][4] His first known identification document was obtained in 1963.[4] Sometime in the 1960s, he sold his farmland in Caricuena to buy property in San José de Bolívar, where he still resides.[1][4] He has been a devout Catholic his whole life.[6]

Later life

His wife died in 1997 after nearly 60 years of marriage, and thereafter his home and family were mainly cared for by his daughter Edilia del Carmen until her death in 2006.[4] At the age of 109, he was cheated out of a pension, though this was quickly resolved.[4] As of his 111th birthday in May 2020, six of his children (three daughters and three sons) were still living.[2] He has 41 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and 12 great-great-grandchildren.[5][7]

Health and longevity

Health and diet

In 2007, aged 98, Pérez had his dental prosthesis removed and began to use a wheelchair.[4] Still, he was able to walk to some extent in his centenarian years.[6]

When declared the oldest living man on 17 May 2022, it was reported that he lacked any notable health issues, and was very lucid, able to recall several aspects of his childhood.[1][4][5] According to his family, his favourite foods are cake, mondongo, hallaca, and avocadoes. He is able to get into and out of bed with the aid of a bar beside it.[6] He reportedly enunciates and hears decently, though people have to speak loudly or close to him to be heard.[6][8] He credits his longevity to working hard, praying the rosary twice a day, and drinking a glass of aguardiente every day.[5][9]

Longevity

He was first reported as Venezuela's oldest living person in May 2020.[10][11] He became the oldest known Venezuelan ever on 18 July 2020, when he surpassed Carmen Pacheco de Carrasco (1901–2013), who died aged 111 years, 51 days.[12] His age was validated by Latin American Supercentenarians (LAS) on 3 January 2021.[2][13]

On 18 January 2022, upon the death of Saturnino de la Fuente García of Spain,[14][15] Pérez became the world's oldest man. This was verified by Guinness World Records on 4 February,[16] and announced on 17 May. His 113th birthday on 27 May 2022 was marked by a large celebration with his family, attended by many members of the community.[17][9][18][19] Five days later, he became the last known male born in the 1900s decade, following the death of Italian-Brazilian man Delio Venturotti (25 October 1909 – 1 June 2022).[20][2]

Pérez turned 114 in May 2023,[11][21][13][7] becoming only the seventh verified man to ever do so,[21] and the first in twelve years (since Jiroemon Kimura).[13][22] This occasion was once again marked by a large celebration with many ecclesiastical elements, as well as visits from gerontology researchers, local media, and town representatives.[21][13]

He is the fifth-oldest verified living person in the world as of 16 January 2024.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Oldest man living". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Juan Vicente Pérez Mora". LongeviQuest. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  3. 1 2 "WSRL – GERONTOLOGY RESEARCH GROUP". Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 LeoAl (2022-01-21). "Juan Vicente Pérez es ahora el hombre más longevo del mundo". Diario La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-11-12.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "World's oldest man living confirmed as Juan Vicente Pérez aged 112". Guinness World Records. 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Villatoro, Fabrizio (2023-06-04). "Estilo de vida del hombre vivo más longevo del mundo; Juan Vicente Pérez Mora de Venezuela". LongeviQuest. Retrieved 2023-07-22.
  7. 1 2 "Tweet by Guinness World Records". Twitter. 27 May 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  8. ↑ Magilbray, Gabriela (2023-05-27). "El venezolano Juan Vicente Pérez, el hombre más longevo del mundo, celebra sus 114 años de edad". El Diario | eldiario.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-07-23.
  9. 1 2 CNA. "The oldest man in the world is 113 and prays the rosary twice a day". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  10. ↑ Ruiz, Yuliana (2020-05-27). "El hombre más anciano de Venezuela vive en Táchira y cumple 111 años". Diario La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-07-22.
  11. 1 2 LeoAl (2023-05-27). "Llega a 114 años Juan Vicente Pérez". Diario La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-05-27.
  12. ↑ "Carmen Pacheco de Carrasco". LongeviQuest. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Maglov, Stefan (2023-05-28). "LongeviQuest Visits Juan Vicente Pérez Mora On His 114th Birthday". LongeviQuest. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
  14. ↑ "World's oldest man, Saturnino de la Fuente García, dies aged 112". Guinness World Records. 2022-01-18. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  15. ↑ Madrid, David Sharrock. "World's oldest man Saturnino de la Fuente García dies aged 112". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  16. ↑ "Oldest man in the world turns 113". MercoPress. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  17. ↑ Alibhai, Zaina (2022-05-27). "World's oldest man reveals how he reached 113 and we say cheers to that". Metro. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  18. ↑ "World's oldest man celebrates 113th birthday, shares the secret of long life". WION. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  19. ↑ "World's oldest man turns 113 years old". Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  20. ↑ Peron, Jornalista Desiderio (2022-06-02). "Falece Venturotti, o italiano mais velho do mundo. Viveu 112 anos, sete meses e sete dias - Insieme" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  21. 1 2 3 "WORLD'S OLDEST MAN TURNS 114 - Greatreporter". 2023-05-30. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
  22. ↑ "Juan Vicente Perez Mora of Venezuela (b. May 27, 1909), the Guinness World Records-validated & Gerontology Research Group-validated WORLD's OLDEST MAN turns 114 – Gerontology Research Group". Retrieved 2023-11-07.
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