The 39th president, who has been in hospice for the past 18 months, performed decades of humanitarian service via The Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity.
Former President Jimmy Carter celebrated his 100th birthday on Oct. 1, becoming the first centenarian American president in a life that saw the rapid rise of a peanut farmer into the world of Georgia state politics, just years before his ascent into the White House.
Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian, has spent the last 19 months in home hospice care in Plains, Georgia, his hometown.
Serving as president for one term between 1977 and 1981, Carter, along with his wife, Rosalynn, co-founded The Carter Center in 1982 to “wage peace, fight disease, and build hope” across decades of global humanitarian work.
“Not everybody gets 100 years on this earth, and when somebody does, and when they use that time to do so much good for so many people, it’s worth celebrating,” said Jason Carter, grandson of the former president and chair of The Carter Center governing board.
Jason Carter said that the past 19 months that his grandfather has been in hospice care has given his family a chance to reflect, as well as an opportunity for the rest of the country to look back on the 39th president’s legacy.
“That’s been a really gratifying time,” Jason Carter added.
President Joe Biden, the first sitting U.S. senator to endorse Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign, wrote that the former president has “always been a moral force for our nation and the world.”
“You’re a voice of courage, conviction, compassion, and most of all, a beloved friend of Jill and me and our family,” Biden added, wishing the 39th president a happy birthday.
“Your hopeful vision of our country, your commitment to a better world, and your unwavering belief in the power of human goodness continues to be a guiding light for all of us.”
Born James Earl Carter Jr. on Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, the former president marked his 100th birthday in the same modest home he built with Rosalynn six decades ago, before his rise to the Georgia state Senate. Rosalynn, the former first lady, also from Plains, died at 96 in November 2023.
“We know this is the first birthday without Rosalynn,” Biden said. “It’s bittersweet, but we also know she’s always with you. She’s in your heart; she’ll never go away. She may be gone, but she’s always going to be with you.”
The Bidens are setting up a large display outside the North Portico of the White House that says, “Happy Birthday President Carter” next to the number 100. The former president previously asked Biden to deliver his eulogy at an eventual state funeral.
On Sept. 17, The Carter Center hosted an Atlanta musical gala to honor Carter with a host of different genres and musicians, some of who had campaigned with the former president in 1976.
Due to be broadcast Tuesday night on Georgia Public Broadcasting, the gala raised more than $1.2 million for The Carter Center’s outreach programs. Another concert hosted by townspeople in Plains is also scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Habitat for Humanity volunteers in St. Paul, Minnesota, are kicking off a five-day sprint to build 30 homes in Carter’s honor. The former president and his late wife were leaders in the organization from the 1980s onward, hosting yearly building projects well into their 90s.
Carter has, over the past decade, survived a cancer diagnosis and treatment, multiple falls, and a hip replacement before entering hospice care at age 98.
Jason Carter remarked that this level of celebration for his grandfather’s 100th birthday was unexpected after Rosalynn’s death, when Carter had requested to be in the same room as his wife of 77 years to speak with her in her final moments.
“We frankly didn’t think he was going to go on much longer,” Jason Cater said. “But it’s a faith journey for him, and he’s really given himself over to what he feels is God’s plan.
“He knows he’s not in charge. But in these last few months, especially, he has gotten a lot more engaged in world events, a lot more engaged in politics, a lot more, just engaged, emotionally, with all of us.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.