At the time of his death at nearly 116 years old (115 years and 252 days, to be exact), this Danish-born man was the oldest male in recorded history.
He moved to the United States at the age of twenty-one and worked in the milk, restaurant, and canning industries in Chicago, Illinois.
He was a vegetarian and a teetotaler, and he boiled his water before drinking it. His one health vice was the occasional smoking of cigars.
Born Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand Mortensen, he grew up in Skarup, Denmark, as a tailor's son. His brief marriage ended in divorce.
In late 2012, Japanese supercentenarian Jiroemon Kimura died at the age of 116 years and 54 days and therefore surpassed Mortensen as the oldest living man in history.
