Jiroemon Kimura, oldest man in history, dies at 116

Jiroemon Kimura, recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest man in recorded history, has died at the age of 116.

Kimura died Wednesday of natural causes in a hospital in his hometown of Kyotango, western Japan, the local government said.

Born on April 19, 1897, when Queen Victoria still reigned over the British Empire, Kimura dodged childhood killers such as tuberculosis and pneumonia that kept life expectancy in Japan to 44 years around the time of his birth. He became the oldest man in recorded history on Dec. 28, 2012, at the age of 115 years and 253 days. The oldest woman in recorded history, Jeanne Calment of France, died in 1997 at the age of 122.

"He has an amazingly strong will to live," Kimura's nephew Tamotsu Miyake, 80, said in an interview in December.

Kimura was also the world's oldest living person. That title now goes to Misao Okawa of Japan, who was born on March 5, 1898, according to a list of the world's oldest people compiled by the Gerontology Research Group. The previous record-holder for male longevity, Christian Mortensen of California, died in 1998 at the age of 115 years and 252 days.

Kimura was only the third man in history to reach 115 years of age, according to Guinness. He was one of just four male supercentenarians -- people 110 years or older -- known to be alive as of December, Guinness said at the time.

His wife, Yae, died in 1978 at the age of 74. Four of Kimura's five siblings lived to be more than 90 years old, and his youngest brother, Tetsuo, died at 100, Miyake said.