Henry Hartmann

Henry George Hartmann (July 14, 1894 – November 10, 2005) was the fourth oldest man in the world at the time of his death, aged 111. His life, which began before the Model T Ford was invented, spanned three centuries. He was survived by two daughters: Mildred Jean (Mimi) McQueen, born in 1921, and Elouise McDonald, born in 1917. Besides his daughters, Hartmann was also survived by eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Hartmann was recovering from a bout of pneumonia that sent him to the hospital for a week in late June. Although not in the best of health, he looked forward to celebrating his 111th birthday.

Hartmann was the son of German immigrants, Henry Hartmann and Alvina Louisa Boesenberg. He had one sister, Dorothy, and a brother, William (Bill), born in 1896. Both Henry and Bill followed their father into business at the Osborne Company, a Chicago glove manufacturer launched in 1875; Henry began his career in 1912 as a stock boy.

In 1916, Henry married Ethel Buchanan, who he had courted since meeting her Sunday School in 1909, in Irving Park, Chicago. Ethel, whom he described as "my first and only love" was born in 1895. Their 71 year marriage ended with her death at age 92 in 1987.

In 1940, Bill and Henry purchased the glove company from the Osborne heirs. Bill became Vice President, handling sales, while Henry became CEO, focusing on manufacturing and finance. The brothers dissolved the company and retired in 1962. Henry Hartmann moved to La Jolla, California in 1967. Bill, who lived in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and wintered in Palm Beach, Florida, died in an automobile accident in 1996.

On his 100th birthday, Henry wrote that he began "each day at 6:15 AM. I continue taking long walks, driving my car, dining out nightly and going to the theater with friends. I regularly attend St. James Episcopal Church, where I usher. Life has been good to me...and my family. I am fortunate to still enjoy good health and am grateful for every new day and the blessings it brings. Having enjoyed a great one hundred years, I am looking forward to the next hundred!"

Hartmann enjoyed a regular game of golf until he broke his hip at age 105. Prior to that accident, he followed the Canadian Mounted Police exercise regime and climbed the stairs of his condo building each day. In his last years, even though confined to a wheelchair, he continued to follow an exercise regime, focusing on upper body strength. In newspaper interviews on the occasion of his 100th birthday, Hartmann attributed his longevity to moderation in all things (although a glass of wine with dinner may have helped). His sense of humor probably played a key role. "Only the good die young," Hartmann was fond of saying.

According to supercentenarian statistics compiled and published by the national Gerontology Research Group, at the time of his death the only living men documented to be older than Hartmann were: Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, 114, of Puerto Rico; Moses Hardy, 112½, of Mississippi and George Johnson of Richmond, California, who was 2½ months older than Hartmann. With his death, Maurice Floquet of France became the fourth-oldest man in the world.

Hartmann died at his home in La Jolla, a neighborhood of San Diego, California.

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