Frank Mawer, Australia's oldest man, has died at the age of 110 after contracting COVID-19 several weeks ago.
Mr Mawer passed away "peacefully" in his sleep in his Central Tilba home on Saturday afternoon on the New South Wales South Coast, according to members of a home care team from HammondCare who were there to support him in his final moments.
Until November last year Mr Mawer lived independently in his own apartment at Gymea in Sydney's south, before moving to the South Coast to be with his son, Philip, after a fall.
Philip and his partner Stuart were his primary carers alongside the staff from HammondCare.
His other son, Barry said his dad contracted COVID-19 several weeks ago and it had weakened him.
"He lived life to the full even in recent months," Barry said.
"He insisted on sitting up for meals, he did his exercises every day and had plenty of visitors.
"He went to have his afternoon nap on Saturday afternoon and never woke up.
HammondCare chief executive Mike Baird remembered Mr Mawer as "the most inspiring individual".
"A gracious man and a man of faith," Mr Baird said.
Mr Mawer, who celebrated his 110th birthday on August 15, took the title of Australia's oldest man in July last year after the passing of a Queensland man Dexter Kruger.
Before his last birthday Mr Mawer – who survived two World Wars, a pandemic and witnessed many of his loved ones die – said he had seen it all.
"I live day by day and take each day as it comes," he said.
'A privilege'
Born in 1912, Frank married his sweetheart Elizabeth, an Irish immigrant, in 1939.
They raised six children.
The extended family includes 13 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren.
Elizabeth passed away in 2011 at the age of 92 after more than 70 years married to Mr Mawer.
"We had a great marriage and I have no regrets," Mr Mawer said.
Philip said living with his dad later in life was a "privilege".
He described his father as "remarkably stoic" and someone who would "put up with a lot of discomfort" without complaint.
There will be a celebration of Mr Mawer's life at Horizon Church on a date yet to be announced.
His body will be cremated following a private service on the South Coast.
