Oldest Man in the World, a Jew, Dies at 111

Alexander Imich, a Jewish holocaust survivor and the oldest man in the world, passed away yesterday at the age of 111.

Back in April, Alexander was officially verified as the oldest man in the world.

A resident of Manhattan who lived on the Upper West Side, he had the honor of being congratulated by the New York State Senate last year, on his 110th birthday.

Born in Poland in 1903, Imich underwent his schooling there, including earning a Ph.D. in 1927. He survived two World Wars, the Holocaust and two years in a Russian labor camp near the White Sea, before leaving for the United States and starting a new life there with his wife, Wela. She passed away in 1986.

Imich spent his career as a chemist, ultimately trying to prove to other scientists that the neshama (soul) survives physical death. In 1995, at the age of 92, he edited and published a book called Incredible Tales of the Paranormal.

He was the world’s oldest man, but he wasn’t the oldest person—66 women outranked him, according to Gerontology Research.

Back in March, CrownHeights.info published an article about Alexander Imich and his rediscovery of his Jewish heritage thanks to Coney Island Shliach Rabbi Pinny Marozov.