Oldest man in the Netherlands and the Benelux dies at 112
John Huang, the oldest man in the Netherlands and the Benelux, died Friday at 112, his family confirmed to De Gooi- en Eemlander. Huang celebrated his 112th birthday just twelve days earlier in a small private gathering, despite already frail health.
Following Huang’s death, the new oldest resident of the Netherlands is a woman in Haarlem, born in Iran in 1914, who requested to remain anonymous, according to centenarian expert Gertjan Kuiper.
Born February 1, 1914, in South Vietnam to a Vietnamese-Chinese family, Huang never drank alcohol or smoked, and he avoided conventional medicine. “If he had any ailments, he only used Chinese herbs,” his son told De Gooi- en Eemlander when Huang turned 111. At 17, Huang emigrated by sailboat to Suriname, where he eventually ran several stores. In the 1970s, he moved to the Netherlands and settled in Hilversum.
Huang’s age made him the oldest man ever recorded in the Netherlands. According to data from the CBS, he was the oldest resident of the country and the Benelux, and for a brief period, the fourth-oldest man in the world.
