He became the oldest living man in Europe after Spaniard Francisco Núñez-Olivera's death on 29 January 2018, and later also the first German person to become 113 and 114 years old as well as the oldest living man in the world on 19 January 2019 after the death of Japaneseman Masazo Nonaka, who was almost 12 weeks older and became the oldest living man after Núñez-Olivera's death (Nonaka died on 20 January Japanese time). Nonaka and Gerneth were, after the death of Americanman Richard Overton (also a World War II-veteran) on 27 December 2018, the last two living men born before 1907.