Alexander Imich, a 111-year-old New Yorker who lived on the Upper West Side died Sunday morning at 9:03 a.m. according to friends who had been taking care of him told NBC.

Determined by the Gerontology Research Group of Torrance, California, Imich gotten the rank of oldest man in the world this April. During an interview with NBC 4 New York, when asked for his secret weapon of attaining a long life, Imich told, NBC, “I don’t know, I simply didn’t die earlier. I have no idea how this happened.” He also mentioned that he kept a healthy diet --- chicken, fish and no alcohol beverages. Participating in gymnastics and swimming in his younger days, also served as an advantage to Imich’s longevity.

Imich was born in Poland on February 4, 1903, and fled the country with his wife after the Nazis invaded in 1939, according to NBC. They finally came to the United States in the 1950s. Imich wife died in 1986.

According to Gerontology Research, although Imich was the oldest man in the world, there are 66 women who outranked him. One woman in particular, Misao Okawa, is a 116-year-old Japanese woman who is the world’s oldest living person.

The world’s oldest man is now a 111-year-old Japanese man Sakari Momoi who was born a day after Imich in 1903, according to Gerontology Research.