Former President Jimmy Carter died on Sunday, December 29, at 100, making him the longest-lived former U.S. head of state.
After a series of short hospital stays, Carter entered hospice care in Plains, Georgia, in February 2023, according to a statement by The Carter Center.
He passed away at home in Plains, surrounded by family, according to The Carter Center.
Carter is survived by his children, Jack, Chip, Jeff, and Amy; 11 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, who passed away in 2023 at age 96, and one grandchild.
Carter, who served as the 39th president of the United States, from 1977 to 1981, devoted much of his life to public service. For his work promoting international peace, advancing democracy and human rights, and supporting economic and social development he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
Carter Remained Active Into His 90s
In interviews, Carter credited his longevity to genes, a healthy diet, and an active lifestyle. He was an avid runner until he was 80, but eventually stopped after a knee replacement surgery. He took up swimming, walks, and riding a Trikke machine, a type of three-wheeled scooter.
Carter also spoke of his loving and enduring marriage with Rosalynn as one of the keys to his long life.
“It’s hard to live until you’re 95 years old,” Carter told People magazine in 2019. “I think the best explanation for that is to marry the best spouse: someone who will take care of you and engage and do things to challenge you and keep you alive and interested in life.”
Research suggests that having a sense of purpose can also have a positive effect on health and possibly promote longevity. Even into his 90s, Carter continued to advocate for social justice and volunteer for causes that improved the lives of people with fewer resources. Until 2019, he and Rosalynn volunteered one week a year for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit to which the couple devoted their time and efforts for more than 30 years.
The organization, which aims to build and improve homes for people, called the former president and first lady “tireless advocates, active fundraisers, and some of our best hands-on construction volunteers.”
The Habitat for Humanity Carter Work Project has built over 4,400 homes in 14 countries.
Carter was a lifelong member of the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where he taught Sunday school.
He remained humble throughout his life; even after serving as president, he lived in a two-bedroom home in Plains, sometimes bought his clothes at Dollar General, and often flew commercial.
Carter Survived Cancer and Late-Life Falls
Carter was diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to his liver and brain in 2015. After undergoing treatment, he announced he was cancer-free four months later.
Metastatic melanoma often has a difficult prognosis — and this was especially true in 2015 — but Carter’s cancer was detected fairly early. After a small mass was removed from his liver, he began a treatment regimen that included a targeted form of radiation therapy and pembrolizumab (Keytruda), one of several immunotherapy drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors. The drug works by preventing a protein on immune cells from binding to a protein on cancer cells, which restores the immune system’s ability to recognize and kill tumor cells.
Given the cancer’s spread and Carter’s advanced age, the success of the treatment regimen was heralded as a major step forward in oncology — and a modern-day miracle.
In 2019, Carter experienced several falls that caused a few health problems, including a fractured pelvis, broken hip, and subdural hematoma, which is a buildup of blood on the surface of the brain. After a series of surgeries and rehabilitation, the former president rallied and appeared to make a full recovery.
Hip fractures are associated with increased mortality in people over 65 years old. One study found that more than 50 percent of people over 90 died within a year after fracturing their hip.
Carter Was the First President Ever Born in a Hospital
Carter was born in Plains, Georgia, in 1924, with the distinction of being the first president to be born in a hospital.
The son of a peanut farmer, Carter showed his work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit at an early age. When he was 10 years old, he stacked produce from the family farm onto a wagon, hauled it into town, and sold it. By the time he was 13, he had saved enough to buy five houses around Plains (the Great Depression had decreased their price dramatically) and rented the homes to families in the area, according to the Miller Center at the University of Virginia.
Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946 and married Rosalynn later that year. After serving seven years in the Navy, he went back to Georgia after his father’s death to take over the family peanut farm.
In addition to overseeing the farm, Carter held a few positions in local politics before winning a seat in the Georgia Senate, and then served two terms as governor of Georgia. After the Vietnam War and Watergate, the American public was ready for a change. Carter’s “Washington outsider” image helped him win the 1976 presidential election over Gerald Ford, who had assumed office after Nixon’s resignation.
Domestic challenges, including high inflation and energy shortages, were difficult to overcome. However, Carter began to show signs of his gift for diplomacy. One of his most notable achievements as president included the signing of the Camp David Accords, which led to a historic peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
Carter Helped Promote Peace and Eradicate Preventable Diseases Around the Globe
After losing a reelection bid to Ronald Reagan, Carter left the White House. He and Rosalynn remained devoted to public service, and in 1982 founded the Carter Center, created to improve the quality of life for people around the world.
To that end, the center has engaged in conflict mediation between many countries and promoted democracy by overseeing elections in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
The Center continues to work worldwide to eradicate parasitic infections and other preventable diseases, including river blindness, malaria (in Hispaniola), and Guinea worm disease.
The gruesome (but rarely fatal) Guinea worm disease (Dracunculus medinensis) is caused by a parasitic worm that can grow up to three feet long inside the body and cause debilitating skin lesions.
For decades, Carter prodded governments and large nonprofits to invest in ways to educate people and provide resources to limit the spread of the disease, which is caught from drinking contaminated water.
As a result of his efforts, the disease is nearly eliminated from the planet, going from 3.5 million infections in the early 1980s to only 14 reported human cases in 2023.
