The longest-lived president in U.S. history, Jimmy Carter, passed away Sunday afternoon in hospice care surrounded by loved ones. He was 100 years old.
James E. “Chip” Carter III confirmed his father’s death. The former president had been treated for melanoma, a type of skin cancer, in the past decade. Carter’s family announced in February 2023 that he entered hospice care at his Georgia home after a series of short hospital stays. Carter spent nearly two years in hospice before passing away.
“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” Chip Carter said in a statement released by the Carter Center. “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 honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”
The Carter Center said there will soon be forthcoming details on the former president’s funeral arrangements, with public observances to be held in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. There will also be a private interment, in which his corpse will be buried, in Plains, Ga. — Carter’s hometown and the place of his death.
“It’s a true blessing for all of us to have had this much time with him,” Jason Carter, the former president’s grandson, told ABC News in the fall after Carter’s 99th birthday in hospice last year.
Carter’s wife, Rosalynn, passed away in November 2023 at 96 years old, just days after joining her husband in hospice. At the time, a very frail Carter attended his wife’s funeral, draped in a blanket with “The Carters” and their Georgia town printed on it. The lifelong pair are survived by their four children, eleven grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.
Carter entered office as the 39th president of the United States in 1977, defeating then-president Gerald Ford with the promise to restore decency and normalcy to the White House after the Vietnam withdrawal and the scandals that culminated in Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974.
The former Georgia governor’s single term in the Oval Office quickly became defined by several overlapping crises, including stagflation, gas lines that stretched for blocks, and the Iran hostage crisis, which lasted for 444 days.
Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan defeated Carter in a historic landslide in 1980, breaking the Democrats’ decades-long hold on the American South.
Carter’s legacy is also defined by his four-decade post-presidency, which he spent in service of humanitarian causes and democracy promotion through his work with the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity.
“It’s hard to live until you’re 95 years old,” he told People magazine in 2019, while he and his wife were at a construction site for the housing nonprofit. They helped build more than 4,000 homes for needy families.
“One of the things Jesus taught was: If you have any talents, try to utilize them for the benefit of others,” he said at the time. “That’s what Rosa and I have both tried to do.”
The former president will also be remembered for his work on diplomatic projects such as the Camp David Accords — a pair of political agreements signed by Egypt and Israel in 1978. Carter served as mediator during the difficult negotiations between the two nations at bitter odds over the Arab–Israeli dispute. One of the documents outlined a peace solution for the Palestinian issue that remains unrealized. In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work at Camp David and his commitment to securing human rights globally.
“I think his time in the private sector and the work that he did at The Carter Center, really spending his life among the most marginalized and poorest people in the world and believing in their power to change their own lives and in the power of human rights for them and democracy for them, will be the biggest part of his legacy,” Jason Carter, a former state senator and gubernatorial candidate, told ABC News.
After the news surfaced that Carter had entered hospice care, there was a public outpouring of support for the former president, including from the Secret Service, which has protected him and his family for many decades.
“Rest easy Mr. President. We will be forever by your side,” Anthony Guglielmi, the agency’s spokesman, said on social media.
Carter began his life working on his family’s peanut farm in the small town of Plains, Ga., and went on to serve in the Navy. His political career began with two terms in the Georgia state senate followed by a stint as governor of the state.
Carter identified as an Evangelical Christian until the day he died. In retirement, he taught Sunday school classes at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.
President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump paid honor to Carter in their own statements.
Biden described Carter as an “extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian,” as well as a “dear friend” whom he and the rest of the world got to know through his good deeds. The sitting president said he will order an official state funeral for Carter in Washington, D.C., before transferring power to the incoming administration.
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