Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has died at the age of 100. Carter had been in hospice care at his home in Plains, Ga., since February 2023; his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, passed away on Nov. 19 at age 96.
The former president’s death was confirmed in a brief statement from the Carter Center, which read: “our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia.”
Carter, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a member of a Georgia farming family and served as a state senator and governor before defeating incumbent Gerald Ford in a close 1976 presidential election. He served one term, from January 1977 to January 1981, before losing his bid for re-election in 1980 in a landslide to Republican Ronald Reagan, gaining just 49 electoral votes to Reagan’s 489.
Carte wonton to redefine his life after the White House as a global humanitarian. Carter returned to Georgia and win 1982 founded The Carter Center, an Atlanta-based nongovernmental organization dedicated to peace and human rights. Carter’s work through The Carter Center was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
Carter became the nation’s longest-lived president on March 22, 2019, surpassing George H.W. Bush’s lifespan. Bush died in November 2018, having lived 94 years and 171 days. Carter celebrated his 99th birthday on Oct. 1.
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