LOS ANGELES (AFP) — America's oldest man, an African-American who befriended Louis Armstrong and voted for president-elect Barack Obama "because he's black," has died in Sacramento, California, his family said.
Born in New Orleans on June 6, 1896, George Rene Francis smoked cigars until he was 75, ate a diet heavy on milk, cheese, eggs and lard sandwiches and slept six hours a day. He died of congestive heart failure at a nursing home on Saturday.
"He was exceptionally good-natured," his daughter Lelia Francis Larue said late Sunday.
Francis, who in his life worked as a chauffeur, an auto mechanic and a barber, became a friend of young jazz trumpet player Louis Armstrong and cast his vote November 4 for Obama.
"I think he's great, because he's black. Because the white people thought the Negro would never be promoted. I think it's beautiful," he told The Sacramento Bee after he voted.
Francis was hospitalized with pneumonia several weeks ago, but asked his family to return him to his nursing home where his friends were, his daughter said.
"We took him back there, and he seemed OK. We talked to him about Obama, and he was still excited.... People mentioned trying to get him to the inauguration (January 20), but that wasn't going to happen."
"He just gradually faded away. He wasn't in any pain or anything," Larue said.
Francis' wife, Josephine, died in 1963 after 46 years of marriage. He is survived by four children, 19 grandchildren, and some 30 great-grandchildren.
The oldest American is 114-year-old Gertrude Baines, of Los Angeles.
The oldest person in the world is Maria de Jesus of Portugal, 115. The oldest man is Tomoji Tanabe of Japan, 113.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
