The XO Directory

Leonid Ivanovyc Stadnyk (born 1971 in Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) is the world's tallest living man according to Guinness World Records 2008. He is a certified veterinarian and veterinary surgeon and lives with his mother in the village of Podolyantsi, Ukraine. Leonid Stadnyk's excessive growth began after brain surgery when he was 12 years old. He developed a pituitary gland tumor which caused the gland to secrete large amounts of growth hormone, resulting in what doctors describe as acromegalic gigantism.