Age at Mother's Death

  • At 77 years and 332 days, James Madison was the oldest president when his mother, Eleanor, died at age 98.
  • John Tyler was the youngest president to lose his mother - 7 years and 17 days.
  • Three presidents died before their mother - James K. Polk, James A. Garfield, and John F. Kennedy.
  • John Adams was the first president whose mother lived long enough to see him become president.
  • James Madison's mother was the first to live through his son's entire term in office.
  • When Herbert Hoover's mother died when he was 9 years and 196 days old he became the youngest president to lose both parents.
  • The average age of a president at the passing of their mother is about 42 years old.
  • * indicates the exact date of death is not known. These are estimates.

Rank#PresidentAge at Mother's Death
14James Madison77 years 332 days
243George W. Bush71 years 285 days
341George H. W. Bush68 years 160 days
446Joe Biden67 years 49 days
533Harry S. Truman63 years 79 days
62John Adams61 years 170 days
718Ulysses S. Grant61 years 14 days
832Franklin D. Roosevelt59 years 220 days
939Jimmy Carter59 years 29 days
101George Washington57 years 185 days
1134Dwight D. Eisenhower55 years 332 days
1225William McKinley54 years 317 days
1337Richard M. Nixon54 years 264 days
1438Gerald R. Ford54 years 65 days
1545Donald J. Trump54 years 54 days
1640Ronald Reagan51 years 169 days
176John Quincy Adams51 years 109 days
1827William H. Taft50 years 84 days
1936Lyndon B. Johnson50 years 16 days
2042Bill Clinton47 years 140 days
2117Andrew Johnson47 years 46 days
2222 & 24Grover Cleveland45 years 117 days
2329Warren G. Harding44 years 199 days
2419Rutherford B. Hayes44 years 16 days
2515James Buchanan42 years 21 days
2621Chester A. Arthur39 years 103 days
2712Zachary Taylor38 years 19 days
2844Barack Obama34 years 95 days
298Martin Van Buren34 years 73 days
3014Franklin Pierce34 years 14 days
313Thomas Jefferson32 years 353 days
3228Woodrow Wilson31 years 108 days
3313Millard Fillmore31 years 85 days
3426Theodore Roosevelt25 years 110 days
359William Henry Harrison19 years 142 days *
3623Benjamin Harrison16 years 360 days
375James Monroe15 years 248 days *
387Andrew Jackson14 years 232 days
3930Calvin Coolidge12 years 253 days
4016Abraham Lincoln9 years 235 days
4131Herbert Hoover9 years 196 days
4210John Tyler7 years 17 days
-11James K. PolkDied before mother
-20James A. GarfieldDied before mother
-35John F. KennedyDied before mother

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