World’s Oldest Man, Yasutaro Koide, Passes Away at 112

The world's oldest man has died.

Yasutaro Koide from Japan passed away on Tuesday at the age of 112, just two months short of what would have been his 113th birthday. According to Japanese officials, he had suffered from chronic cardiovascular problems.

Five months prior to his death, the Guinness Worlds Records had honored Koide at the Japanese city of Nagoya. At that time, Koide, who was still in good health, was attending a day care center.

A representative for Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Akira Yamase, stated that Koide had died at a hospital in Nagoya, where he had moved to roughly five years ago to be closer to his daughter.

"I felt very honored that I have had a chance to meet Mr. Yasutaro Koide last summer, surrounded by his warm family and relatives," the Vice President of The Guinness World Records Japan, Erika Ogawa, said reported by Guinness World Records. "The stories of his adolescent years encouraged all of us who were there. I would like to express my sorrow and condolences to him and his family."

Erika was the one who handed the certificate to Koide back on August 20.

Koide had said that not smoking and drinking, or overdoing things, were his secrets to living a long life. When he was younger, Koide had worked as a tailor for a men's clothing shop

Koide was born on March 13, 1903, the same year that the Wright brothers carried out their first ever powered flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. A year later, Japan would become embroiled in a war with the Russians.

With Koide's death, the title of the oldest living man in Japan belongs to Tokyo native, Masamitsu Yoshida, who is 111. It is unclear whether or not Yoshida is the world's oldest man alive. Guinness World Records has stated that it would be investigating to see who is the oldest man alive now.

The world's oldest living person is Susannah Mushatt Jones, who is 116. Jones lives in Brooklyn, New York in the United States.

The world's oldest man to ever live, according to Guinness, was Jiroemon Kimura, who was from Japan. Kimura died at the age of 116-years-old and 56 days. The world's oldest person to ever live was Jeanne Calment, who died at the age of 122-years-old and 164 days. Calment was from France.