The tallest man in America has died at the age of 38.
Igor Vovkovinskiy passed away from heart disease on Friday, August 20, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, The Guardian reports.
He first visited the clinic back in 1989 after abnormal levels of the growth hormone were secreted into his system by a tumor pressing against his pituitary gland.
Igor went on to become the tallest man in America, standing at 7ft 8.33in.
Taking to Facebook, his mother, Svetlana Vovkovinska, an ICU nurse at Mayo, revealed the sad news on Sunday, August 22.
She wrote: "Igor Vovkovinskiy Igor died on August 20 at 22:17 pm in hospital from heart disease. 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.
"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."
Igor moved from Ukraine to America when he was a child to seek treatment for the tumor pressing against his pituitary gland.
He was crowned the tallest man in America back in 2010, per PR News Wire, after he towered over the previous record-holder, Virginia deputy sheriff George Bell, by a third of an inch.
"It feels so good to finally have proof that I am the tallest man in America," Vovkovinskiy said at the time, according to New York Post.
"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!"
Igor is pictured below shaking Barack Obama's hand.
Despite being the tallest man in America, Igor was not the tallest man in the world, with Guinness World Records reporting that the title is held by Sultan Kösen, from Turkey, who stood at more than 8ft 2in in 2016.
Guinness World Records reports that the tallest person to have ever lived was Robert Pershing Wadlow, from Illinois, who was 8ft 11in.
He sadly died at the age of 22 in 1940 after a poorly fitted brace led to a septic blister.
