Manuel Uribe Dies: World’s Heaviest Man, Mexican, Passes Away At 48

Manuel Uribe, once the World’s Heaviest Man, has died at the age of 48. His death was confirmed by an official of the health department of Nuevo León. A Mexican native, Uribe was Guinness certified in 2006, weighing 1,230 pounds. He had always been a chubby kid, weighing more than 250 pounds in his teenage years. After being named the world’s heaviest man, Uribe opened up about the circumstances that drove him to gain weight uncontrollably.

“I had an obesity problem for many years, a very significant one. I was gaining and gaining weight. I was on every diet you can imagine,” he told ABC news in 2007. “I used to eat normal, just like all Mexicans do ... beans, rice, flour tortilla, corn tortilla, French fries, hamburgers, subs and pizzas, whatever regular people eat. I worked as a technician, repairing typewriters, electronic calculators and computers. So I worked on a chair. It was a sedentary life,” he said back then.

His weight got out of hand and since the summer of 2002 Uribe had been bedridden, relying on his mother and friends to feed him and clean him. In 2008 he married Claudia Solís, being that one of the few times he actually left his house. He intended to walk down the aisle at the ceremony, and lost more than 550 pounds for the occasion. Despite the dramatic weight loss, he had to be transported to his wedding on a flatbed truck and remained in his custom-made bed, according to The Associated Press.

After his wedding, and prior to his death, he gained back a couple hundred pounds and died at 867 pounds, which was still way below his record peak weight of over 1,000 pounds. His cause of death is yet to be confirmed, but sources close to the family said Uribe was admitted to the hospital because of an “abnormal heartbeat” on May 2. He was also believed to be suffering from liver problems. His body was taken on a king size bed, refitted with a metal frame and a plastic tarp into the crematorium of a local funeral parlor in Monterrey.