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Emilio Flores Márquez

Emilio Flores Márquez was a Puerto Rican supercentenarian who was recognized as the world's oldest living man by the Guinness World Records (GWR). He held the title since the death of Bob Weighton on 28 May 2020 until his own death on 12 August 2021. His age was validated by Latin American Supercentenarians (LAS) in August 2020, and by the GWR on 14 May 2021. Before then, the oldest men alive after Weighton's death were believed to be Dumitru Comanescu (1908–2020) and Saturnino de la Fuente Garcia (1909–2022). The latter of whom regained his title after Flores Márquez died.

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Biography

Emilio Flores Márquez was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, on 8 August 1908. He was the second of eleven children born to parents Alberto Flores and Margarita Marquez. 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.


In 1935, He married Andrea Pérez (1918–2010), 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 2010 at the age of 92. 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!” His sister Joaquina (1916–2018) lived to be 101, and his brother Miguel (1920–2017) died in New Jersey, two months before turning 97.

Flores Márquez 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.

Emilio Flores Marquez died on 12 August 2021 in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, at the age of 113 years, 4 days.


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Recognition

On 28 May 2020, following the death of 112-year-old Bob Weighton of the UK, he became the world’s oldest living man. However, he was not known to either Gerontology Research Group or Guinness World Records at the time. Shortly after, Dumitru Comanescu of Romania was recognized as the world’s oldest living man. Flores Márquez was three months older than Comanescu, and after his age was validated by the Latin American Supercentenarians (LAS) in August 2020, he became the candidate for the title himself. In May 2021, he was officially recognized as the world’s oldest living man by the Guinness World Records.

Flores Márquez was the last surviving man born in 1908.