Demetrius (right) with his wife, Zivana
Demetrius Philipovitch (Serbian: Dimitrije Filipović) (8 March 1818? - fl. October 1932) was the first Yugoslavian supercentenarian on record, having been validated by Guinness World Records. He is considered a "grandfathered" case - if investigated today, he would not be verified, but as he has not been debunked and was verified by GWR, he remains a verified supercentenarian. He was also the first male supercentenarian of the 20th century known. He was born and died in present-day Serbia.
In July 1928, Demetrius and his wife received media attention for being the claimed longest married couple in Kingdom of Yugoslavia and possibly in whole world. Demetrius claimed that he was more than 20 years old when Milos Obrenovic, Prince of Serbia, abdicated in 1839. According to him, his wife Zivana was 3 years younger than him.
Philipovitch was last reported at claimed age of 114 (he claimed 117), in October 1932, when he and his wife celebrated their 93rd anniversary of marriage. His wife, Zivana (Serbian: Živana) claims to be 115 at that time. They lived in the village of Vrbica, near to Arandjelovac, Serbia (then Kingdom of Yugoslavia). They allegedly were married in 1839 in small village near Zemun. Demetrius never smoked but sometimes drinked a good glass of wine. His exact date of death is unknown - he was last known to be alive in October 1932.
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References
- New Castle News from New Castle, Pennsylvania · Page 19 New Castle News, August 11, 1928
- The Evening News from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania · Page 23 The Evening News, December 1, 1928
- The Scranton Republican from Scranton, Pennsylvania · Page 40 The Scranton Republican, December 14, 1928
- Couple Celebrate 100th Anniversary The Southeast Missourian, October 5, 1932