World's oldest living man (18 January 2022 – 2 April 2024)
Oldest Venezuelan ever
Spouse
Ediofina del Rosario García
(m. 1938; died 1997)
Children
11 (5 deceased)
Juan Vicente Pérez Mora (27 May 1909 – 2 April 2024) was a Venezuelan supercentenarian who, until his death at the age of 114 years, 311 days, was the world's oldest verified living man since the death of Spain's Saturnino de la Fuente García on 18 January 2022.[1] He was the last living man to have been born in the 1900s decade.[2][3]
Early life
Pérez was born on 27 May 1909 in El Cobre, Venezuela, as the ninth child of Euquitio Pérez and Edelmira Mora.[4][5] In 1938, he married Ediofina del Rosario García and they had six sons and five daughters in total.[4]
When he was 31 years old, he and his wife moved to the town of Caricuena to buy a farm.[5] He became a sheriff of Caricuena in 1948.[5] In the late 1950s, Pérez was hired to work on the construction of the highway between San José de Bolívar and Queniquea.[1][4] Sometime in the 1960s, he sold his farm in Caricuena to buy a home in San José de Bolívar.[1][4] He was a Catholic his whole life.[6]
Later years
In 2007, aged 98, Pérez began to use a wheelchair.[4] Still, he was able to walk for a short while in his older years.[6]
When he became the oldest living man on 17 May 2022, it was said that he did not have any health issues.[1][4] He was able to remember memories of his childhood.[1][4][5][7] He said the reason why he has lived for such a long time is because he worked hard, prays the rosary twice a day, and drinks a glass of liquor every day.[5]
On 18 January 2022, after the death of Saturnino de la Fuente García of Spain, Pérez became the world's oldest man.[8][9] This was supported by Guinness World Records on 4 February and announced on 17 May.[10] That same month, he became the last known living man born in the 1900s decade.[11][2]
Pérez turned 114 in May 2023,[12][13][14] becoming only the seventh proven man ever to do so,[13] and the first in twelve years (since Jiroemon Kimura).[14][15]
Pérez died at his home in San Jose de Bolivar, Táchira, on 2 April 2024, at the age of 114 years and 311 days—less than two months shy of his 115th birthday.[16][17] Pérez was the fourth-oldest man ever and the fourth-oldest living person in the world.[3]
