100-Year-Old Man Sets Guinness World Record by Working for Same Company for 84 Years

A 100-year-old Brazilian man has set the Guinness World Record for the longest tenure at the same company, after working for a textile firm for 84 years.

Guinness World Records reports the record was verified on January 6. Walter Orthmann, who turned 100 on April 19, started working at ReneauxView, previously called Industrias Renaux S.A., when he was just 15 years old in January 1938.

“Back in 1938, kids were expected to work to help support the family. As the oldest son of five, my mother took me to find a job at the age of 14,” Orthmann said.

“I was given the opportunity to work as a salesperson,” he continued. “I traveled to São Paulo, and in less than one week, I filled the production with orders equivalent of three month of work.”

Calling the Guinness World Record his “proudest achievement,” Orthmann said that what’s helped him obtain the record is focusing on the present.

“I don’t do much planning, nor care much about tomorrow. All I care about is that tomorrow will be another day in which I will wake up, get up, exercise and go to work,” Orthmann said. “You need to get busy with the present, not the past or the future. Here and now is what counts.”