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Biden says Jimmy Carter asked him to deliver his eulogy

Jimmy Carter dies at 100 | Special Report
Former President Jimmy Carter dies at 100 | Special Report 04:06

President Biden said in March 2023 that former President Jimmy Carter had asked him to deliver the eulogy at his funeral. Carter, the 39th president and the longest-living president in U.S. history, died Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024 at age 100. 

Carter entered hospice care at his home in Georgia in February 2023. The following month, Mr. Biden was at a fundraiser in California when he revealed, "He asked me to do his eulogy — excuse me, I shouldn't say that." 

In his remarks, Mr. Biden said he had recently "spent time" with Carter and said cancer had "finally caught up with him." Mr. Biden, whose son Beau died from brain cancer in 2015, spoke about cancer at the fundraiser and referred to Carter's earlier bout with the disease, saying doctors had "found a way to keep him going for a lot longer than they anticipated because they found a breakthrough."

Carter had a small cancerous mass removed from his liver in 2015, and a year later, he announced he needed no further treatment since an experimental drug had eliminated any sign of cancer. 

Joe Biden, Jimmy Carter and Jill Biden at the 2008 Democratic National Convention
Then-Senator Joe Biden, former president Jimmy Carter and Jill Biden watch the proceedings at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Aug. 26, 2008.  Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

The Carter Center said in February 2023 that "after a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention." 

The center did not say what medical treatments he had recently undergone. In 2019, he underwent surgery to relieve pressure on his brain caused by a subdural hematoma. He also had been hospitalized in recent years after suffering a series of falls. 

Carter and his family marked his 100th birthday on Oct. 1, 2024.

In May 2021, Mr. Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in Plains, Georgia. At the time, Mr. Biden said they "talked about the old days." Mr. Biden served in the U.S. Senate during Carter's presidency from 1977-1981.

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