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The oldest man in America passed away on Wednesday at the age of 111.

Great-great-great-grandfather Shelby Harris passed away comfortably in his sleep at the Rock Island, Illinois, nursing home where he lived for the past six years.

Mr Harris was born in 1901 in the Southern Indiana town of Ayrshire. He first worked as a coal miner before moving to the Quad Cities in 1942.

He signed up to fight in World War II but due to a broken ankle didn’t make it out of training and later took a job with the former Union Malleable in East Moline, Illinois.

Outliving two wives and his three daughters, the old romantic had cited love as the secret to his long life.

One of the greatest things in the world is to love people and believe in people,’ he told WQAD in a March Interview.

“I just try to live from day to day, I try to live the right kind of life. I try to live the truth. I love everybody and I want everybody to love me.”

Mr Harris hands the baton for the oldest man in the United States to James McCoubrey, from San Francisco, California, who is due to turn 111 in September.

There is a number of American women older than Mr McCoubrey, with the eldest, Besse Cooper, due to turn 116 in August.

via BMS