Biography
Jozef Suchár was born in the village of Lemes, in what was then the Austrian Empire (now Lemešany, Slovakia) on 16 February 1857. Ethnically Slovakian, he spoke Slovak as his mother tongue, although he also spoke Hungarian fluently, as was typical for the region in which he lived. As a teenager, he moved to Eperjes, which is now known as the Slovakian city of Prešov. It was here where he began working in a salt mine, although he would later find work as a stonemason in different cities across Central Europe. Two of such cities he resided in were Budapest, Hungary and Bucharest, Romania. He would later return to Prešov, and from 1890 to 1920, he was employed as a railway switchman until his retirement. Additionally, he was active in the labor movement, and was involved with the Social Democratic Party in Prešov.
Suchár first married Karolina Ferencz in 1882, although she died shortly after. He would later marry a second time in 1888, to Mária Schlosser. He had six children, and outlived three of them. In his later years, he was cared for by his daughter, Mária, who was 76 at the time of her father’s 110th birthday.
As a centenarian, Suchár still did various household chores, including sawing and cutting wood to use for heating. At the age of 108, he became injured after falling down the stairs in his home, but he recovered quickly without any lasting health problems.
On 16 February 1967, he celebrated his 110th birthday, making him one of the earliest-born verified supercentenarians, and the first in Central Europe. He received many letters from throughout the world congratulating him on this achievement.
Jozef Suchár died in Prešov, Czechoslovakia, (now Slovakia) on 11 August 1967, at the age of 110 years, 176 days. He was survived by three living daughters, six grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.
