TIME Special Edition - Jimmy Carter Tribute

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, will be remembered as one of the most compassionate leaders in modern history.

Hard work and dedication was instilled in Jimmy Carter at a young age on his family’s farm, where he started his day at 4 a.m., milking cows and gathering eggs before the school bell rang. At 21, he married his sister’s friend Rosalynn, and as a naval lieutenant aided in the development of atomic-powered submarines, before moving into politics. During his sole term in the White House, from 1977 to 1981, the Democrat brokered peace in the Middle East, established the Department of Education, and shepherded the U.S. through stagflation and an oil shortage. In his post-presidential life, Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize, took up painting and wrote 32 books. Well into his 90s, he was still building homes with Habitat for Humanity and teaching Sunday school in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.

Jimmy Carter was a U.S. president, champion of human rights, loving husband and father to four (and grandfather to more). And he could not have done any of it without his wife of 77 years, who passed away in November 2023. “Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” he said in a statement. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”