World's oldest man who 'didn't feel old' dies aged 113

The man who admitted he didn’t feel old but became the oldest man on the planet has died – a month after celebrating his 113th birthday.

Francisco Nunez Olivera was born on 13 December 1904 and died in the village of Bienvenida where he had lived all his life. He passed away peacefully at his home in South West Spain at 10.03pm on Monday 29 January.

"He will be missed by everyone", said Antonio Carmona, the mayor of Bienvenida, who confirmed the death to Spanish newspaper El Periodico. He described the man’s death as a "shame for the entire village and the whole world".

Mr Olivera loved to go out for daily walks alone in his home village and did so until he was 107-years-old. He also started reading again at the age of 98-years-old, after a cateract operation.

His relatives say he had only been to hospital twice and attribute his long life to vegetables he grew on his own land and a daily glass of red wine. His daughter 82-year-old Maria Antonia was his full-time carer. She said, when her father turned 113 he was in good health and didn’t have any aches or pains or illnesses.

’I don’t feel old’

In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo in 2015, Mr Olivera said he would like to live a couple more years despite the fact all his friends were dead. He said: “I know I’m old but I don’t feel old.”

Mayor Antonio Carmona said: “He is a living example of the quality of life in the municipality, but also of the pollution-free skies and countryside and stress-free work of the traditional way of life.”

Mr Olivera is a retired farmer who fought in the Rif War – an armed conflict (1920-1927) between Spain and the Berber tribes of the Rif mountain region in Morocco. He also survived General Francisco Franco’s 1936-75 dictatorship.

’Don’t be weak and stay in the house'

He has told Spanish media, his secret to such a long life was “to work hard. To not be weak and stay in the house.”

The supercentenarian’s daughter Ms Antonia attributed his longevity to "a gentle routine in a quiet village, being his own boss, not arguing with the family and enjoying the good life – that revolved around the field, his house and the village bar."

Mr Olivera had a varied diet despite not having had his own teeth for forty years. His daily food consisted of milk and madeleines (sponge cake) for breakfast with an Actimel. For lunch, he ate meat, fish or stew, yoghurt for an afternoon snack and cereal with milk for dinner.

Ms Antonia was among those who spent his last birthday with him at his home and was understood to have been with him last night when he died. She admits: “Someone mentioned the idea of taking him to a retirement home once and it made me feel bad.”

Mr Olivera is mourned by his 95-year-old brother Luis, his 93-year-old sister Jacoba, who also lives in Bienvenida, four children, nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

Tributes from around the globe have been paid to the 113-year-old. Guillermo Fdez Vara, president of the Extramadura, the region where Mr Olivera lived, tweeted: 'Rest in peace, good man.'

Mr Olivera became the world’s oldest man after the death on 11 August 2017 of Yisrael Kristal; a Holocaust survivor who lived to the age of 113 and 330 days.

Proof of age

While he has been described as the world’s oldest man, Mr Olivera’s name did not appear on a list kept by the US-based Gerontology Research Group. Mayor Antonio Carmona said there were documents to prove the Spaniard was the oldest man in the world but most of Bienvenida’s archives were destroyed during Spain’s 1936-39 civil war, according to newspaper El Mundo.

Since Francisco’s death, the world's oldest man is now Japan’s Masazou Nonaka, who was born on 25 July 1905 - making him 112-years-old.

At the end of January 2018, the top 10 oldest people were all women. The oldest living human is Nabi Tajima from Japan. She was born on 4 August 1900 and is currently 117-years-old.