Apology failed to save him. He is 68, seems like he should be grandfathered in for things like that as long as he was willing to apologize. 
No country for old men, I might not last 30 days in the current correctness climate. When I was bumping salaries, promoting people and recommending people for promotion, there was no one who respected the work of females more and no one treated them better or insisted more that they get equal pay with male counterparts.
I would throw out little references like “baby cakes”, “rose bud”, etc, from time to time. Never in a serious work situation and never in an interview or performance review. In 30 years no one ever said a word about it.
If you read the whole story, the guy deserved a serious reprimand for the context of the offense, but firing him seems a bit harsh, don’t y’all think?