Mahmud Celal Bayar

Mahmud Bayar (May 15, 1884-August 22, 1986) was a Turkish statesman and the third President of Turkey (1950-1960). A close friend of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Bayar was appointed as Minister of the Economy and held other ministerial postions from 1921-1937. He was named Primier in 1937 but resigned in 1938 after Ataturk's death. Bayar was elected President in 1950 and was subsequently reelected in 1954 & 1957. He was ousted from power in 1960, and was sentenced to death for violating religious laws and the constitution while in office. He was pardoned in 1966 because of ill health.

Bayar remains the longest-lived President of any country. (The only other President to make it to centenarian status was Edward Raczynski, President of Poland (in exile) from 1979 to 1986, who died in 1993 at age 101.)