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Emilio Flores Marquez

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Emilio Flores Marquez
Emilio Flores Marquez
Emilio Flores Marquez (aged 112) after being recognized as the World's Oldest Man, 30 June 2021.
Birth: 8 August 1908
Carolina, Puerto Rico
Death: 12 August 2021
Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico
Age: 113 years, 4 days
Country: Puerto RicoPRI,United StatesUSA
Validated

Emilio Flores Marquez [Spanish: Márquez] (8 August 1908 – 12 August 2021) was a Puerto Rican supercentenarian who was recognized as the world's oldest living man by Guinness World Records from the death of Tomas Pinales Figuereo of the Dominican Republic on 24 September 2020, until his own death on 12 August 2021.

Biography

Emilio Flores Marquez was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico on 8 August 1908, to parents Alberto Flores and Margarita Marquez. The second-oldest of eleven children, at the age of 104 he could still easily recall the names of nine of his siblings (his oldest sister Maria died as a child): Angelina, Mercedes, Aurora, Joaquina, Cecilia, Rosa, Lino, Miguel, and Jose.

He attended school for three years and learned how to read and write, before his father thought it was enough and employed him on the family's sugarcane farm, where he helped his father water the compost. He wanted to study, as he enjoyed subjects like math, reading, writing, singing and politics. He also transported the sugarcane in wagons, earning $1.12 a day. As the first-born child in his family, he also was responsible for doing many of the household chores and taking care of his nine younger siblings. In 25 July 1935, He married Andrea Pérez de Flores (1915 – 1 March 2011), with whom he had four children: Hilda Luz, Olga Soraida, Emilio, and Tirsa. To support his family, he worked in the state of New Jersey, where a portion of his family still lives today. The couple were married for over 75 years before her death in 1 March 2011 at the age of 95. Two of his children, Hilda and Olga, were deceased as of 2013.

When asked for his secret to his longevity, he responded "My dad raised me with love, and taught me to love everyone. He always told me and my brothers and sisters to do good, to share everything with others. Besides, Christ lives in me!"

There was also a history of longevity in his family: his sister Joaquina Flores Marquez (1916 – 1 April 2018) lived to be 101 and his brother Miguel Flores Marquez (29 September 1920 – 8 July 2017) died two months before turning 96 in New Jersey, USA.

He lived with his children Tirsa and Emilio in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico for the last years of his life. At the age of 103, he overcame surgery to implant a pacemaker, and at 108, he survived an intestinal obstruction.

He became the oldest Puerto Rican alive on 15 December 2017, following the death of Secundina Rivera Cumba.

Following the death of 112-year-old Bob Weighton of the UK on 28 May 2020, he was originally believed to have become the oldest living man in the world. However, the subsequent validation of Tomas Pinales Figuereo of the Dominican Republic meant that he did not officially become the oldest living man until Pinales Figuereo's death on 24 September 2020.

He became the last man born in 1908, following the death of Dumitru Comanescu on 27 June 2020.

In June 2021, when recognized as the oldest living man, Emilio Flores Marquez had five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Emilio Flores Marquez died on 12 August 2021 in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, at the age of 113 years, 4 days. Following his death, Saturnino de la Fuente Garcia became the world's oldest validated living man.

Gallery

External Links

References


World's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • T • E)

James Smith • James Hard • Karl Glockner • Wayland Newell • Anders Johansson • Euclid Story • Daniel Cummings • Mathias Hansen Saether • Robert Early • Willem Kostering • Sylvester Melvin • Joseph Saint-Amour • William Smith • James King • John Mosley Turner • Eli Lindsay • John Chaney • William Lamb • John Johnson • Theophilus May • Friedrich Wedeking • Isaac Edwards • James Holt • Jean Teillet • Charlie Nelson • Charlie Phillips • Zachariah Blackistone • James Nash • Walter Wilcox • Gregory Pandazes • Benjamin Garner • Randolph Davis • Joe Thomas • Herman Smith-Johannsen • Alphaeus Philemon Cole • John Evans • Henri Perignon • Robert Freeman • Frederick Frazier • Josep Armengol Jover • Park Heard • Christian Mortensen • Donald Butler • Denzo Ishizaki • Antonio Urrea Hernandez • John Painter • Antonio Todde • Yukichi Chuganji • Joan Riudavets Moll • Fred Hale • Emiliano Mercado del Toro • Tomoji Tanabe • Henry Allingham • Walter Breuning • Horacio Celi Mendoza • Jiroemon Kimura • Salustiano Sanchez Blazquez • Ernest Peronneau • Arturo Licata • Alexander Imich • Sakari Momoi • Yasutaro Koide • Israel Kristal • Francisco Nunez Olivera • Masazo Nonaka • (Gustav Gerneth) • Tomas Pinales Figuereo • Emilio Flores Marquez • Saturnino de la Fuente Garcia • Juan Vicente Perez Mora • Shi Ping • John Tinniswood • Joao Marinho Neto


Puerto Rico's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • E)

Jose del Carmen Matos Santiago • Petronila Ramos Gonzales • Pedro Zorrilla Caballero • Maria Echeandia Cumpiano • Emilia Hernandez de Ramos • Ramona Trinidad Iglesias-Jordan • Emiliano Mercado del Toro • Francisco Haddock Navarro • Matilde Monclova Lebron • Zoila Garay • Maria Nieves Rivera Cruz • Amparo Cora de Santiago • Secundina Rivera Cumba • Emilio Flores Marquez • Juan Escribano • Rosa Castrodad Melendez • Bienvenido Diaz Guilfu • Ana Luisa Garcia • Ana Helvetia Barros Schira


Puerto Rico's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E)

Isabelo Martinez • Pedro Zorrilla Caballero • Emiliano Mercado del Toro • Francisco Haddock Navarro • Esteban Ruiz Delfi • Valentin Rivera Lopez • Emilio Navarro • Regino Hernandez Perez • Fidel Feliciano Mendez • Emilio Flores Marquez • Juan Escribano • Monico Rivera Gautier • Bienvenido Diaz Guilfu • Silverio Perez Rosado • Andres Irizarry Troche • Manuel Martinez Milan

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