Ukrainian-born Igor Vovkovinskiy, tallest man in US, dies at age of 38
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The tallest man in the US, Igor Vovkovinskiy, has died at the age of 38 in Minnesota. On Friday, the Ukrainian-born Vovkovinskiy died of heart disease while getting treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, his family said. His mother Svetlana Vovkovinska, who is also an ICU nurse at Mayo, announced his death on Facebook
The tallest man in the US, Igor Vovkovinskiy, has died at the age of 38 years in Minnesota.
On Friday, the Ukrainian-born Vovkovinskiy died of heart disease while getting treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, his family said.
His mother Svetlana Vovkovinska, who is also an ICU nurse at Mayo, announced his death on Facebook.
In 1989, Vovkovinskiy came to the Mayo Clinic as a child seeking treatment. At that time, a tumor was pressing against his pituitary gland, which caused it to secrete abnormal levels of growth hormone. He grew to become the tallest man in the US. His height was 7ft 8.33in (2.35m). He ended up staying in Rochester.
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Oleh Ladan, his older brother of Brooklyn Park, told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that Vovkovinskiy was a celebrity when he arrived from Ukraine because of his size and the flickering cold war of the late 1980s.
Apart from appearing on the Dr Oz Show, Vovkovinskiy was called out by Barack Obama during a campaign rally in 2009, when the president noticed him near the stage wearing a T-shirt that read “World’s Biggest Obama Supporter”.
According to Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Home, he was born on September 8, 1982 in Bar, Ukraine to Vovkovinska and Oleksandr Ladan. A memorial service was held on Saturday.
