America’s 39th commander in chief, President Carter, has died at the age of 100 following more than 18 months of hospice care. The cause of the death was not immediately disclosed. 

The Carter Center announced the former president’s death in a statement on Sunday afternoon. 

“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” said the former president’s son, Chip Carter. “My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”

Carter was narrowly elected president in 1976 after the tumultuous and scandal-plagued Watergate era, which saw Americans’ trust in government rapidly decline. A devout baptist and peanut farmer who served one term as governor of Georgia, Carter was seen as the good government reformer that America needed at the time. 

Four years later, he would be defeated for a second term by Ronald Reagan, who campaigned on the message that Carter was incapable of handling inflation or foreign affairs, including the Iran hostage crisis that dominated the latter part of Carter’s presidency. 

After leaving Washington in 1981, Carter returned to Georgia to embark on a four-decade-long career of charitable works alongside his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, who died in 2023. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in advancing human rights and peace across the world through the Carter Center.

In one of his last public acts in October, Carter, as a resident of the swing state of Georgia, cast an absentee ballot for Vice President Harris. His family had said he hoped to live long enough to do so.