Former US President Jimmy Carter dies at the age of 100

The Democrat was US President from 1977 to 1981, and in 2002 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work.

Carter died peacefully at home surrounded by his family, the Carter Center said. “My father was a hero, not just to me, but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights and selfless love,” his son Chip Carter wrote in a statement.

For the past two years or so, Carter had been receiving palliative care at home. The last time he appeared in public was last November at the funeral of his wife Rosalynn – in a wheelchair and with a blanket on his knees that showed a picture of the couple, who had been married for 77 years.

“Unlucky” president later highly valued

In October, Carter celebrated his 100th birthday. He was the oldest living US president and the only one to reach the biblical age of 100. In August, Carter told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper that he wanted to “hold out” until the US presidential election in November in order to be able to vote for Democrat Kamala Harris. In October he then voted by postal vote.

The Democrat was considered a hapless president. He did manage to negotiate an agreement between Israel and Egypt, known as the Camp David Accords, which led to a peace treaty between the two states. However, the hostage crisis in Iran and the US military’s failed attempt to rescue the 52 hostages held in the US embassy in Tehran also fell during his term in office.

When he was voted out of office in 1980, Carter had a reputation as a quixotic idealist who lacked political clout as a statesman. Later, however, he was repeatedly recognized as the country’s “best ex-president.”

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