(NewsNation) — The longest-lived U.S. president in history, Jimmy Carter, has died at the age of 100. Carter, who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, died Sunday in Plains, Georgia.
At 100, Carter was the third-oldest living person to have served as a state leader. He had been receiving hospice care since February 2023. The Carter Center confirmed his death via X.
Presidential historian and friend of Carter’s, Dr. Larry Cook remembered Carter as a gracious and caring man guided by his faith and values.
“He’s let it be known that his faith has guided him since he was a child and up through his adult life and through the presidency and beyond,” Cook said. “It’s who he is, his faith is who he is.”
Carter was preceded in death by his wife, Rosalynn Carter, who died Nov. 19, 2023. The former president and first lady had the longest marriage of any first couple in U.S. history and celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary in July.
“They’ve experienced everything that you can together. I think the beautiful thing is that they are still together,” the Carters’ grandson, Josh Carter, recently told People magazine. “They are still holding hands … it’s just amazing.”
Born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, James Earl Carter Jr. was the first person on his father’s side of his family to graduate from high school.
He was the only United States Naval Academy graduate to be elected to the White House.
Presidential historian Robert Dallek said Carter will be remembered for his post-presidential work than his time in office.
“He’ll never be seen as a great president. But he will be seen as a great humanitarian,” Dallek said.
A month after Carter graduated, he married Eleanor Rosalynn Carter in 1946.
“She’s the girl I want to marry,” Jimmy Carter told his mother after his first date with Smith, who had grown up as a friend and neighbor of the Carter family in Plains, Georgia.
In July 1953, Carter gave up his military career to save his family’s peanut farm and later became involved in local politics when he served on an education board.
Carter served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975 and as a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967.
After Carter’s presidency, in 1982, he founded the Carter Center, which has played an active role in human rights and disease prevention issues globally. The Carters helped publicize Habitat for Humanity as well.
