Maurice Stael

Maurits (Maurice) Roger Stael (born 25 September 1911) is a Belgian centenarian who has been the country’s oldest known living man since the death of 106-year-old Gustave Leclercq on 5 April 2018. He is among the top 15 oldest men ever born in Belgium.

Biography
Maurice Stael was born on 25 September 1911 in Wijnendale, West Flanders, Belgium as one of 11 children born to parents Edward Stael and Leonie Verhaege, who were farmers. Stael would later become a farmer himself. He married Maria Devooght in 1941 and had four children with her. The couple ran a farm together in Wijnendale until the early 1950s, when they opened a sewing machine store. Stael’s son, Frans, took over the business in 1974, who, in turn, left it to his own son, Dries, in 2016.

Stael’s wife Maria passed away in 2003 aged 92. Maurice moved into a care home in Beernem, West Flanders in 2011. As a centenarian, he always wore his World War II medals with pride. On 5 April 2018, aged 106, Stael became the oldest living man in Belgium. He celebrated his 107th birthday in September 2018, and currently lives in Beernem, West Flanders, Belgium, at the age of.