Manuel "Meme" Uribe, once listed as the world's heaviest human being in the Guinness Book of World Records, died Monday, May 26, in Monterrey, Mexico. He was 48.
According to the Associated Press, Uribe's death was confirmed by a health department official of Nuevo Leon state. Doctors have not officially released his cause of death, though it's believed he died from heart and liver problems.
The health department official told the AP that Uribe had been hospitalized on May 2 due to an abnormal heartbeat. He had to be transported with a crane operated by emergency personnel.
Uribe has been mostly confined to his bed in Monterrey since the summer of 2002, due to his inability to walk. One of the rare occasions the record setter left his home was in 2008 for his marriage to Claudia Solis.
At his peak weight, Uribe weighed a record 1,230 pounds in 2006. He later slimmed down to 867 pounds, prompting him to assist others struggling with obesity.
Though Uribe was overweight as a child, his dramatic body transformation came from a sedentary lifestyle. "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," he told ABC News in a 2008 interview.
The lack of exercise was what ultimately was believed to contribute to his dramatic weight gain. "I worked as a technician, repairing typewriters, electronic calculators and computers," he explained in the same interview. "So I worked on a chair. It was a sedentary life."
