Christian Mortensen

Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand Mortensen, known as an adult as Christian Mortensen (August 16, 1882 – April 25, 1998), was an American supercentenarian. By the time he died, he had become (and still is) the oldest male ever whose age is not disputed, although the Guinness Book of World Records still ranks him second to the disputed case of Shigechiyo Izumi. Mortensen was baptized in Fruering Church on December 26, 1882. Besides his baptismal record, other records include the 1890 and 1901 census enumerations in Denmark, and church confirmation in 1896.

In 1903, he immigrated to the United States, and lived in various areas and worked in various trades including as a milkman and in a can factory. In Denmark, Mortensen had worked as a farmhand and apprenticed as a tailor. He apparently was married only briefly and never had children. Mortensen enjoyed an occasional cigar, and, very unusually for a supercentenarian, was known to show a bit of feistiness even in his final years. In August 1997, for instance, he expected to get the Guinness "oldest person" title, but on August 14, 1997, Guinness named Marie-Louise Meilleur of Canada, age 116, the "world's oldest person." Mortensen, angered, said they "just did that to spoil my birthday" (he turned 115 only two days after). Later, however, when he found out that fellow American Sarah Knauss was older too (116 as well), he said "c'est la vie." Mortensen could have been given the title of "oldest living man", however, but Guinness did not officially implement that category until mid-2000.

In 1973, he rode his tricycle to the Aldersly Retirement Community in San Rafael, boldly telling the staff that he was Danish, and that he was there to stay. Mortensen lived there for his final 25 years.

He is the oldest recognized male ever to die in the United States (and in the entire world if the disputed case of Izumi is discounted), and the oldest recognized person ever born in Denmark. At his death, Mortensen was the second-oldest recognized living person only behind Sarah Knauss, also from the United States. He was 115 years and 252 days old.

He was the last surviving person documented as born in 1882 and was the only Nordic person to have reached at least 113 years of age (until Astrid Zachrison from Sweden on her 113th birthday).