Tallest man in the U.S. passes away

2 mins read

The tallest man in the United States, Igor Vovkovinskiy, died at the age of 38 in Minnesota.

Vovkovinskiy, who was born in Ukraine, was announced dead by his family on Friday. He died of heart disease at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

His death was first announced by his mother, Svetlana Vovkovinska, on Facebook. Svetlana also works as an ICU nurse at Mayo.

In 1989, the tallest man came to the Mayo Clinic to seek treatment as a child. He is having abnormal levels of growth hormone due to a tumor pinning against his pituitary gland.

He grew at 7 feet, 8.33 inches or 2 meters, 34.5 centimeters and became the tallest man in the county. Vovkovinskiy stayed in Rochester.

In a talk with Star Tribune of Minneapolis, Vovkovinskiy’s older brother Oleh Ladan of Brooklyn Park said the tallest man became famous because of his size when he set foot from Ukraine. He also became popular during the trembling Cold War of the late 1980s.

Vovkovinskiy, however, “would have rather lived a normal life than be known,” his brother said.

The tallest man made an appearance on “The Dr. Oz Show.” In 2009, he was mentioned by President Barack Obama during a campaign rally as he was wearing a T-shirt with a print that reads “World’s Biggest Obama Supporter”. He was standing near the stage at that time.

He also carried one Ukrainian contestant into the stage back in 2013 for a Eurovision Song Contest.

Vovkovinskiy, at 27, went to New York and was pronounced by the Guinness World Records adjudicator as the tallest living person in America, ABC News reported.

With his feet size 26, 10E, he has to ask an estimated amount of $16, 000 to customize his shoes in 2012. During that time, he said he never owned a pair, moving donors to pitch in an amount that exceeded what he pleaded for.

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