Tallest Man In U.S., Igor Vovkovinskiy, Dies At 38

Igor Vovkovinskiy, who was the tallest living man in the United States, recently died at 38 years old.

Vovkovinskiy passed away on August 24 due to heart disease. Svetlana Vovkoviska, who was his mother, spoke about her son in a Facebook post.

“Igor Vovkovinskiy Igor died on August 20 at 22:17 pm in hospital from heart disease,” her post reads. “He and his older brother Oleh were with him until the end. His last dinner was: a piece of Kyiv cake and Fanta. A few hours before his death, he was accompanied by Oleh’s wife Alla and children.”

His mother thought that he seemed happy as he was close to death. She even shared that he was joking around with his nephew. “Igor was glad to see them, and although it was difficult for him to speak, he tried to joke about his nephew Andriy, whether he had learned the Ukrainian language in a month in Ukraine,” she wrote. She accompanied the post with a picture of her and Igor, as she embraced her son.

Vovkovinskiy was measured at 7 feet, 8.333 inches, which earned the title of the tallest living man in the United States. His height was certified by Guinness in 2010 while he appeared on The Dr. Oz Show. He was just one-third of an inch taller than George Bell, a deputy sheriff in Virginia. “Everyone is always asking me if I’m certain that I’m the tallest and I was never able to prove it. Now that I have this certificate to hang on my wall, I could finally show it!” Vovkovinskiy said on the show.

Vovkovinskiy was a Ukrainian national who relocated to Rochester, Minnesota in 1989 to receive medical attention. He had a condition known as pituitary gigantism which caused him to grow to a massive size. Although his size made daily life difficult, he managed many accomplishments throughout his life. Vovkovinskiy obtained a degree from Rochester Community and Technical College. He even acted in films and television, appearing in titles such as Hall Pass.