[Deathwatch] Joan Riudavets Moll, (former) world's oldest man, 114

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

World's Oldest Man Dies at 114 in Spain
Mon Mar 8
By Emma Ross-Thomas

MADRID (Reuters) - A retired Spanish shoemaker who was officially the
world's oldest man has died at his home at the age of 114, his family
said on Saturday.

The Guinness World Records recognized Joan Riudavets Moll as the
world's oldest man following the death of Japan's Yukichi Chuganji,
also 114, in September. Riudavets, who attributed his longevity to a
life of moderation, was born on Dec. 15, 1889 -- the year Adolf Hitler
and Charlie Chaplin were born and the year the Eiffel Tower was
completed.

He had been retired for half a century.

He died at home in Es Migjorn Gran on the Spanish Mediterranean island
of Menorca on Friday night, a police spokesman there said.

"I spoke to him a few days ago and he had all his faculties," the
spokesman said. "He spoke and reasoned perfectly well without any
problems. It was a natural death; he had not been ill."

Riudavets' grandson said he was still taking walks at the end of his
life and was always surrounded by friends.

"He nearly always had people around him and he had a great gift for
words," his eldest grandson, Pablo, told Reuters. "There were a lot of
anecdotes."

Riudavets, who joined the family shoe-making business and retired in
1954, lived to see huge advances in medicine and science, but he never
stopped marveling at inventions like the airplane -- first flown when
he was a teenager -- and electricity.

"The airplane was something incredible, but the most important change
was electricity -- without doubt, it changed everything," the Guinness
Web site quoted him as saying.

He attributed his long life to doing everything in moderation,
including smoking "but not too much." He used to sleep up to 14 hours a
day but also enjoyed playing football and the guitar.

Trini Pinto Alvarez, who lives in the village, said: "He was a
shoemaker, he worked hard, had a good life ... Everybody knew him. When
he had birthdays, the village threw fiestas."