The oldest known Frenchman, André Ludwig, died on January 7 in Longué-Jumelles (Maine-et-Loire) at the age of 111, we learned on Monday from the establishment where he was being treated, confirming information from the Courrier de l'Ouest.
Since 2016, he had been housed in the long-term care unit of the town's hospital, the hospital told AFP. Although he had "never been ill" according to his own words, the supercentenarian's health had been declining since an operation on his femur, reports the Courrier de l'Ouest.
Maurice Le Coutour, 109 years old, new dean of the French
Born on 6 June 1912 in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre (Seine-et-Marne), André Ludwig was taken prisoner and deported to Poland during the Second World War, before escaping and joining the Resistance in Paris. A former sales executive, he moved to Maine-et-Loire when he retired in 1972 with his wife, who died at the age of 99 when he himself was a year older, according to the daily. Considered in the absence of any official census as the oldest French since January 2023, he had confided to the Courrier de l'Ouest that his "greatest pleasure will be to die", during an interview in June 2022.
His known successor would be Maurice Le Coutour, 109 years old and living in Barfleur (Manche), according to Laurent Toussaint, a specialist in super-centenarians and one of the hosts of the blog "Les grands centenaires français" for the past ten years. "It's a ranking to be taken with a pinch of salt because it's possible that an older person will refuse to disclose their age, in order to remain anonymous," Toussaint told AFP.
Born on 14 May 1914, Maurice Le Coutour "must be among the 30 oldest men in the world, and in the top five in Europe," according to this specialist. The oldest person in France remains to this day Marie-Rose Tessier, 113 years old, born on May 21, 1910 and who lives in Les Sables-d'Olonne (Vendée), according to this unofficial ranking.