The shortest man on record died on Thursday evening at a hospital in American Samoa, hospital officials said.

Nepal’s Chandra Bahadur Dangi, 75, who was 21.5 inches tall according to Guinness World Records, died of an undisclosed illness at Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center in Pago Pago.

Dangi will continue to hold the Guinness World Record for shortest man ever, having replaced 1-foot-10.5-inch Gul Mohammed, who died at age 40 in 1997.

Dangi had managed to escape international notice for most of his life before Guinness investigated his case in 2012 and confirmed that he was 2 inches shorter than Junrey Balawing of the Philippines, who was then considered the shortest living man.

Balawing, age 22, now returns to the top spot.

In a statement on Thursday, Guinness World Records said it was “deeply saddened” by the news of Dangi’s death.

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