Former US President Jimmy Carter dies at 100
Former US President Jimmy Carter has died aged 100, the centre he founded has confirmed.
The former peanut farmer lived longer than any President in history and celebrated his 100th birthday in October.
The Carter Center, which advocates for democracy and human rights around the world, said he died on Sunday afternoon in Plains, Georgia, his home town.
The Democrat served as President from 1977 to 1981, a period beset by economic and diplomatic crises.
After leaving the White House with low approval ratings, his reputation was restored through humanitarian work which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.
During his tenure as President Carter faced a spate of foreign policy challenges and the Democrat was defeated in his re-election bid by Ronald Reagan.
One of his greatest achievement while in office was brokering peace between Israel and Egypt on September 17, 1978 at the Camp David Accords leading to a peace treaty in 1979; the first between Israel and an Arab country. The accords involved Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
Last year it was announced that he would receive hospice care at home, following the end of his medical treatment. Carter had been suffering health issues, including a melanoma that spread to his liver and brain.
His son, Chip Carter, says: “My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love.
“My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honouring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.
The former president was born on 1 October 1924 as James Earl Carter Jr, in the small town of Plains, Georgia. He was the eldest of four children. His father ran a family peanut business, and his mother, Lillian, was a registered nurse.
In high school, he was a star basketball player, and then spent seven years in the US Navy during which time he married Rosalynn.
Carter was reportedly devastated when he had to resign from the US Navy when his father died in 1953, and he was forced to run the family’s struggling farm. But he managed to turn the business around, becoming quite wealthy in the process.
