The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inbox Sign up today! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

(Image: ALAN SCHNEIDER / FOCUS ON NEWS)

José Aguinelo dos Santos – who lived in a nursing home in Sao Paulo for 44 years – passed away on Wednesday and was buried in a private funeral yesterday.

But the Brazilian was never officially verified as the world’s oldest man by the Gerontology Research Group and was unable to confirm his longevity for the Guinness Book of Records due to costly and painful exams.

To prove José – also known as Ze – was a supercentenarian, the ex-chain smoker would have had to submit a series of invasive tests that could have caused “unnecessary suffering”.

(Image: ALAN SCHNEIDER / FOCUS ON NEWS)

The decision not to take the exams was made by board members of the Vincentian Village Nursing Home – where he lived since 1973.

César Siqueira Campos, the vice president of the home, explained: “They wanted to ascertain (Ze’s) real age by taking a scraping from his bone and doing a procedure known as Carbon 14 that would accurately date his age.

“Another option was to do a biopsy. Both would have been quite painful for our friend and the costs were very high. We decided not to authorise the procedures as it would have added nothing more to Aguinelo’s life.”

(Image: ALAN SCHNEIDER / FOCUS ON NEWS)

Ze’s age was confirmed by a Sao Paulo judge after certificates and documents proving his many years were provided in 2001.

According to staff at the home, Ze recalled being born in a settlement founded by and homed to escaped slaves.

Campos added: “He told us he had a sister who he remembered used to beat him a lot and he had five brothers. His mother was a slave but one day she woke up and she was no longer a slave.

“He said life was hard. They had to plant corn and cassava and picked up a hoe everyday.”

Ze never married or had any children and he was never a slave.

He left his home town in the north east as a young man and travelled down to work on a coffee farm.

Campos said: “He didn’t talk much and was quite introspective. He wouldn’t have conversations with people he didn’t know but with those he was use to he would tell jokes, recall faced memories have a little chat and sometimes he would even sing quietly to himself.

“He didn’t have cholesterol, diabetes hypertension and only took vitamins and a pill to whet his appetite which many people lose as they age.”

As for the key to reaching his ripe old age, Ze who loved wearing and sleeping in his blue baseball cap, said: “There is no secret to reaching this age. Life just passes and I’m just lucky to have lived a lot."