Career
Following his death, news reports said Coates was believed to have been the oldest man in the United States at the age of 114 years, based upon his nursing home records. The reports noted there was no birth certificate. If the claim was correct, Coates would have been the world"s oldest person after the death of Mitoyo Kawate and its oldest man after the death of Yukichi Chuganji.
The census data would mean that Coates was 92 at the time of his death.
