Former President Jimmy Carter died a “hero,” his second-born son said in a powerful statement on Sunday, Dec. 29, as the late leader’s family announced his death at 100 years old.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning 39th president had been in hospice care since Feb. 2023, and died in his beloved hometown of Plains, Georgia.
Former President Carter, a father of four, had a profound impact on both his children and his constituents, his son James Earl “Chip” Carter III, said.
“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” Chip said in a statement released by the Carter Center. “My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs.”
Continued the statement, “The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”
Related: Jimmy Carter’s Life in Photos
In addition to Chip, former President Carter is survived by his children Jack, Jeff and Amy, all shared with wife Rosalynn, who preceded him in death in Nov. 2023. Combined, the late former president and first lady also had 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Library of Congress/MCT/Tribune News Service via Getty
President Jimmy Carter in 1977
Family was important to the former president, as he said during an appearance on The Lead with Jake Tapper in 2015: “We try to hold our family together.”
Related: Jimmy Carter Will Be Buried Beside Rosalynn Carter, His Wife of 77 Years, at Their Longtime Georgia Home
In the years before his death, former President Carter praised his partnership with Rosalynn, as well. He told PEOPLE in 2019 that they’d “had a good life together,” adding, “Now when we have a quiet moment, like a birthday or something, we like to stay at home, just by ourselves, and enjoy a quiet day in our own house without any visitors and with minimum phone calls and emails coming in.”
Public observances for the late former president will be held in both Atlanta and Washington, D.C., before a final interment in Plains. A state funeral, including public events, is still being planned.
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