President Jimmy Carter entering hospice care

ATLANTA — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will receive hospice care and spend his “remaining time” at home, according to a statement issued Saturday from The Carter Center.

The former 39th president had been in and out of the hospital recently. Carter, 98, served as commander in chief from 1977 to 1981. 

Carter is the oldest living former president in U.S. history. He survived a dire cancer diagnosis in 2015.

Jason Carter, Carter’s grandson, tweeted Saturday that his grandparents are “at peace.” 

The former president celebrated his most recent birthday in October with family and friends in Plains, the tiny Georgia town where he and his wife, Rosalynn, were born in the years between World War I and the Great Depression.

The Carter Center, which the 39th president and the former first lady established after their one White House term, last year marked 40 years of promoting democracy and conflict resolution, monitoring elections, and advancing public health in the developing world.