Jimmy Carter, the oldest living president of the United States, has died at the age of 100.
Carter, who was president between 1977 and 1981, died on Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia, according to The Carter Center.
“Our founder, former US President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the organisation, which Carter founded a year after leaving the White House, said in a post on X. The death was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
No cause of death was immediately given, although Carter had spent almost two years under hospice care at his home after being treated for a form of skin cancer. He celebrated his 100th birthday at his home in October.
Rosalynn Carter, Jimmy Carter’s wife of 76 years, died in November 2023.
Despite serving only one term, the former peanut farmer from Georgia left a lasting legacy during his post-presidential career. This included winning the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002 for The Carter Center’s work in fighting the Guinea worm disease in Africa and tracking elections across the world.
He also continued to volunteer with the Habitat for Humanity home-building organisation late into his life, burnishing a reputation for community service and humility that earned him plaudits from across the political aisle.
US President Joe Biden said a state funeral would be held for the former president on January 9, calling on Americans to “pay homage” at their places of worship on a National Day of Mourning to be observed on the same date.
Leading tributes to his predecessor, Biden described Carter as “an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian”, who had “saved, lifted, and changed the lives of people all across the globe”.
“With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us,” he said.
“We’d all do well to try and be a little more like Jimmy Carter,” he added.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that “we all owe [Carter] a debt of gratitude … The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans,” he said.
All of the current living former US presidents also weighed in. Bill Clinton said Carter “worked tirelessly for a better world”, while Barack Obama said Carter “taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice and service”. George W Bush said Carter’s life would “inspire Americans for generations”.
