| Mikhail Krichevsky | |
 Mikhail Krichevsky at the age of 110 | |
| Birth: | 25 February 1897 Karlivka, Poltava Oblast, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) |
| Death: | 26 December 2008 Donetsk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine |
| Age: | 111 years, 305 days |
| Country: |  UKR
|
| Unvalidated | |
Mikhail Efimovich Krichevsky [Ukrainian: Михайло Юхимович Кричевський] (25 February 1897 – 26 December 2008) was a Ukrainian supercentenarian whose age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). At the time of his death, he was the oldest known living person in Ukraine and the last surviving World War I veteran of the Imperial Russian Army.
Biography
Mikhail Krichevsky was born in Karlivka, Poltava Oblast, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) on 25 February 1897. He was the youngest of four children, and came from a long-lived family: his father lived to 98, his mother was 89, and his sister and grandfather both died aged 101. At the age of 10, Krichevsky started an apprenticeship with a shoemaker, and after a year of training was already competent in this field. However, upon being visited by his wealthy aunt, she felt that his talents were being wasted by working as a shoemaker, so she took him back to school, where he would graduate from the Ekaterinoslav Mining Institute.
Krichevsky was mobilized into the army in 1917 and was sent to the Southwestern Front, becoming an engineer. After the October Revolution he returned home, where he became a successful head engineer at a mine. He later settled and lived in Donetsk in 1946.
After his first wife died in 1972, Krichevsky lived with his son and daughter-in-law. He later began dating his neighbor, Elizaveta Grigorievna, who was 93 years old in 2005.
Despite his extreme age, Krichevsky kept active both physically and mentally into his centenarian years, enjoying reciting old poems he had learned over 90 years prior, as well as solving math problems to keep his mind sharp. He also went out shopping by himself as a centenarian, before weakening legs and poor hearing forced him to stay home. He claimed to have never drank, smoked, or went on a diet, and maintained perfect health for most of his life. Aside from a bout of typhus as a child, he had never been sick until he developed kidney disease at age 100, requiring surgery for the first time in his life.
Mikhail Krichevsky died in Donetsk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on 26 December 2008 at the age of 111 years, 305 days. At the time of his death, he was believed to be the oldest living person in Ukraine, and was one of the last surviving World War I veterans in the world.
Gallery
References
- «мясо кур, которых держат отдельно от петухов, становится невкусным», — считает 108-летний дончанин михаил кричевский, Fakty, 26 February 2005
- 111-річний Михайло Кричевський пиляє дрова Gazeta.ua, 6 February 2008
- ПОСЛЕДНИЙ В МИРЕ ВЕТЕРАН ПЕРВОЙ МИРОВОЙ ЖИВЕТ В ДОНЕЦКЕ (ФОТО) Новости Донбасса, 22 February 2008 (Archived)
- Умер самый старый житель Украины Podrobnosti.ua, 30 December 2008
- Oldest known Ukrainian Jew dies at 111 Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 5 January 2009