Saturnino de la Fuente García, the oldest man in the world according to Guinness World Records, which compiles world records, died at the age of 112 years and 341 days on Tuesday (18), just 24 days from his 113th birthday, the Publication.
Known as “El Pepino”, García was born in the Ponte Castro neighborhood of León, Spain, on February 11, 1909, and married Antonina Barrio Gutiérrez in 1933. The couple had a good life, according to Guinness, and relationship seven daughters were born.
The secret of El Pepino’s longevity was to live “without hurting anyone”, the publication says. With that, and the luck of his height of 1.50 m, freed him from fighting in the Spanish Civil War of 1936, he managed to become a successful shoe maker. The livelihood led García to manufacture boots for the country’s army.
If he wasn’t busy taking care of business, according to Guinness, he was devoted to his other passion, football. A supporter of Cultural Leonesa, he ended up co-founding Puente Castro’s team. When it was born, Barcelona was only a ten-year-old club and Real Madrid, seven.
In addition to the conflict in his own country, García was also alive in the First (1914-18) and Second World War (1939-45), in the more than four decades of the Cold War, in the period of the Spanish Flu (1918-20) and, more recently, from Covid-19.
El Pepino also saw ten popes at the helm of the Catholic Church, from Saint Pius 10th to Francis. During his lifetime there were also four British monarchs, starting with Edward 7th to Elizabeth 2nd.
In September 2021, he had his record as the oldest living man alive at the time, with the help of gerontology consultant Robert Young, who confirmed the death. The cause was not disclosed. García will be buried in a local cemetery on Wednesday (19), according to the EFE news agency. In addition to his wife and seven daughters, he leaves 14 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.
.
