America's oldest man, an African-American who befriended Louis Armstrong and voted for president-elect Barack Obama "because he's black," has died in Sacramento, California, his family said. Born in New Orleans on June 6, 1896, George Rene Francis smoked cigars until he was 75, ate a diet heavy on milk, cheese, eggs and lard sandwiches and slept six hours a day.
He died of congestive heart failure at a nursing home on Saturday. "He was exceptionally good-natured," his daughter Lelia Francis Larue said late Sunday. Francis, who in his life worked as a chauffeur, an auto mechanic and a barber, became a friend of young jazz trumpet player Louis Armstrong and cast his vote November 4 for Obama. The oldest American is 114-year-old Gertrude Baines, of Los Angeles. The oldest person in the world is Maria de Jesus of Portugal, 115. The oldest man is Tomoji Tanabe of Japan, 113.