A Jewish couple who were married for 69 years died holding hands within an hour of each other this week.

Isaac Vatkin, 91, was holding the hand of his wife Teresa, 89, as she succumbed to Alzheimer's disease, according to US media reports.

Mr Vatkin died 40 minutes after his beloved wife and family members said they took comfort knowing that they were together.

Their grandson William Vatkin said: "You didn't want to see them go…but you couldn't ask for anything more."

Staff at the local Highland Park Hospital in Chicago found Mr and Mrs Vatkin unresponsive and breathing shallowly on Saturday and chose to place their beds side by side, according to the BBC. Relatives then positioned their hands so that they touched.

Speaking at their joint funeral, the couple’s daughter, Clara Gesklin, said: "Their love for each other was so strong, they simply could not live without each other."

The couple had lived in Skokie, Illinois, where Mr Vatkin worked as a kosher meat distributor and his wife was a manicurist.

The service at the Shalom Memorial Funeral Home in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights was led by Rabbi Barry Schechter.

"They were always in love, literally to the end. To the last second," he said.