America’s oldest man and a World War II veteran, Richard Overton, passed away at the age of 112 on Thursday.
Overton used to live in Austin, Texas, at a rehabilitation home, his cousin, Volma Overton Jr, told the Austin-American Statesman.
The report also read that he had been hospitalised earlier this month with pneumonia.
Apparently, Overton’s longevity and his status as the oldest living American veteran of World War II made him a celebrity of sorts over the past few years.
He visited Washington and met with president Barack Obama at the White House, in 2013.
Notably, the street where he lived in Austin was renamed ‘Richard Overton Avenue’ on his 111th birthday.
Born on May 11, 1906 in Texas, Overton had served in the US Army in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945.
Overton worked in furniture stores and for the office of the state treasurer, after returning home
The article in Statesman also mentioned that he spent his later years sitting on his porch smoking cigars and sipping coffee or Coca-Cola with a dash of whiskey.
Overton was married twice but had no children.
Though the oldest living man in the world is 113-year-old Masazou Nonaka of Japan, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
Also read: World’s oldest monkeys may help us fight against HIV: Report