Alexander Imich

The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The world's oldest man, a retired chemist and parapsychologist, has died in New York City at the age of 111.

Alexander Imich died Sunday at his home in Manhattan, according to his niece, Karen Bogen of Providence, Rhode Island. She said she visited him a day earlier with her sister and several of his close friends.

Imich attributed his longevity to good genetics, proper nutrition and exercise and the fact that he and his wife, who died in 1986, did not have children, said Bogen.

Michael Mannion, a longtime friend, said Imich's "enormous curiosity and ability to turn even great adversity into something positive were important factors in his long life. These qualities were evident even in his last weeks and days of life."

At the age of 93, Imich enrolled for three years at the IM School of Healing Arts, a school that offers programs in self-awareness and hands-on healing, "because he wanted to learn more about love," said Mannion.

Imich detailed the work of a Polish medium known as Matylda S. in his book "Incredible Tales of the Paranormal," which was published in 1995 when he was 92.

Imich was born in 1903 in a town in Poland that was then part of Russia. He and his wife fled after the Nazis invaded in 1939. They moved to the United States in 1951.

He began requiring round-the-clock help only in the last few months but declined markedly in the last two weeks, unable to recognize those around him, Bogen said.

Guinness World Records awarded Imich the title of oldest living man on May 8. The group is investigating the claim that 111-year-old Sakari Momoi of Japan is now the world's oldest man.

The world's oldest person is a woman, 116-year-old Misao Okawa of Japan.