World's oldest man dies in N.Y. at 113

updated 12:37 a.m. ET Nov. 20, 2004

DEWITT, N.Y. - Fred Hale Sr., documented as the world’s oldest man, died Friday. He was 113 years old.

Hale died in his sleep Friday at The Nottingham in suburban Syracuse, while trying to recover from a bout of pneumonia, said his grandson, Fred Hale III. He was 12 days shy of his 114th birthday.

Born Dec. 1, 1890, Hale last month watched his lifelong favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, win the World Series again after 86 years.

Hale retired 50 years ago as a railroad postal worker and beekeeper, his grandson said. He enjoyed gardening, canning fruits and vegetables and making homemade applesauce.

“He had a routine and he rarely broke it because anyone else was around,” Hale III told The Post-Standard of Syracuse. “He didn’t need a lot to be happy.”

At age 95, Hale flew to Japan to visit a grandson who was in the Navy. While en route back to the United States, he stopped in Hawaii and even gave boogie-boarding a try.

At 103, Hale was still living on his own and shoveling the snow off his rooftop.

He was born in New Sharon, Maine, when there were only 43 stars on the American flag. He married Flora Mooers in 1910.

Hale lived in his native Maine until he was 109, when he moved to the Syracuse area to be near his son, Fred Jr., now 82.

On March 5, 2004, the Guinness World Records acknowledged him as the oldest living man when Joan Riudavets Moll, of Spain, passed away at age 114.

Hale also was a Guinness record-holder for the oldest driver. At age 108, he still found slow drivers annoying, Fred Hale III said.

Hale outlived his wife, who died in 1979, and three of his five children. He had nine grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-grandchildren.

The world’s oldest living man is now Hermann Dornemann, of Germany, age 111. There are 26 living woman older than him, according to Gerontology Research Group.

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